The Demon Village
by DevilDragon8
Summary: After the battle with Naraku, which resulted in both his and Inuyasha's deaths, a wish was made on the Shikon Jewel that transported Kagome and the many demons of the Feudal Era to another dimension. After centuries of hiding Kagome is sent to Konoha to announce their presence to the world. With demons and a powerful priestess around the world of the shinobi will never be the same.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone, so heres a new story from me and LadySongbird16. We have been planning it for years and are really excited about it. We hope you all like it and if you have the time please leave a review.**

 **Disclaimer: This will only be written once, I do not own** _ **Inuyasha**_ **or** _ **Naruto**_ **. I only own the situations and am using the characters for fun.**

 **Chapter 1**

 _The Feudal Era, After Naraku's Defeat_

Three demons, one a great dog demon and the lord of the western lands; another the young leader of the eastern wolf demon tribe, and the last an elderly swordsmith, stand in the forest staring at a glowing purple jewel. There is a small imp standing not too far behind the dog demon, and a small flee demon on the swordsmith's shoulder.

All of them know well enough though that this is no ordinary jewel. No, this centuries old jewel could grant anyone who possesses it great power. This jewel had caused battles between human and demons for over 200 years; that was the reason it was created.

A priestess with strong sacred powers created this jewel when she merged her soul with the soul of the "Demon of all Demons." Then another priestess, whose duty was to keep the jewel purified and protected shared her final breath with it. Now her reincarnation, a young girl, from another era, the girl born with the jewel inside her, the one who shattered it and helped put it back together, sits not too far from them. Her knees are tugged up to her chest, and she rests her head on top of them. A young fox demon and a small cat demon sit by her trying to console her, but it is clear they can't ease her pain.

"She's been that way for over an hour now," Sesshōmaru commented.

"What do you expect?" Kōga asked angrily. "Inuyasha is dead. I never liked the guy, but Kagome loved him, and it was clearly mutual. Now she's sitting over there heartbroken and you stand there looking like you don't even care that your own brother was killed!"

"How dare you insult Lord Sesshōmaru," Jaken said stepping forward.

"Why you!" Kōga snarled.

"Enough, all of you," the elderly Tōtōsai said. "The young priestess has lost her lover and it is indeed a tragedy. Inuyasha will without a doubt be missed, but we have a bigger matter at hand."

The three demons looked at the still glowing purple jewel.

"This jewel cannot fall into another demon's hands," Sesshōmaru declared.

"Lord Sesshōmaru is right," Tōtōsai stated. "We can't have another demon attempting all that Naraku did."

"I think it should stay with Kagome," Kōga stated. "It did come from her after all."

"Yes, the jewel did come from the girl," Tōtōsai confirmed. "And she is the only one who can keep it purified."

"Indeed, Kagome can use the jewel to make a wish," Myōga stated. "Although I don't think now would be the right time to bring it up to her. She is clearly inconsolable right now; it looks like Shippō and Kilala can't do much to help her, and Sango and Miroku were sent back to Lady Kaede's, so she's short on comfort."

"One way or another the girl is going to have to get over it," Sesshōmaru stated.

"Will you shut up already," Kōga snarled. "Clearly you don't understand what she's going through."

"Yes, the Shikon jewel has put her through a lot," Tōtōsai said. "It has also been the cause of the wars between humans and demons for years."

"What if there's a way to make the girl the final keeper of the Shikon jewel?" Myōga suggested.

"It might work," Kagome said sadly.

The others turned to see her standing up and wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Kagome…" Kōga said.

"Please, Myōga does have a good point and Tōtōsai is right," Kagome said. "I'm currently the only one who can keep the jewel purified; and I'm not about to burden another priestess with it.

"Kagome, are you sure about this?" Shippō asked.

"Yes," Kagome said. "I'm more than willing to be the last protector of the Shikon Jewel. If it can help bring peace to this era somehow then I'll do it."

"Well then, if you must, then make your wish on the jewel," Sesshōmaru said.

Kagome nodded and proceeded to pick up the jewel.

"Shikon jewel," Kagome began. "I'm ready to make my wish."

The jewel began to glow even brighter.

"Shikon Jewel, make me the last keeper of you," Kagome said. "If it will bring peace to this era then let no other priestess have possession of you."

Suddenly the jewel grew brighter and everyone felt like they were being sucked into a hole or portal of some sort. It made Kagome feel so dizzy that she closed her eyes wishing it would stop.

Then she fell. She opened her eyes to see that she was lying on the ground. She pulled herself up off the ground to see that Sesshōmaru, Jaken, Kōga, Shippō, Kilala, Tōtōsai, and Myōga were still there, but it wasn't just them!

Kagome realized several other familiar demons, Jenenji, Hachi, A-Un, Ayame, Ginta, Hakkaku, and they weren't the only ones though. There appeared to be thousands of demons scattered everywhere.

"What happened?" Kagome found herself asking.

"You wished for peace in the feudal era," a deep voice declared.

Kagome and the others realized that the Shikon Jewel, which was still in her hand was speaking. The others gathered around to listen to what the jewel had to say.

"In order to make your wish possible I sent you and all the demons of the feudal era to another dimension. Now they can no longer attack any of the humans in that era."

"Say what now?" Jaken screeched.

"The girl wished for it," the jewel continued. "She also asked that she be the last keeper of me. So I will return into the girl's body and she will soon stop ageing."

"What?!" Kagome yelled.

"This is what you wished for Kagome," the jewel said. "So it will be."

Then the jewel floated right back to Kagome side and disappeared into her body. Everyone could not believe what just happened.

"Great," Kagome said sadly. "Now not only did I lose Inuyasha, but now I can't see him or my family again."

Shippō jumped onto her shoulder, while Kilala nuzzled against her leg, and Kōga placed his hand on his other shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

"What the hell are we supposed to do now?" Kōga asked.

"I'd think the answer to that should be quite obvious to all of you," Sesshōmaru said coolly. "We move on."

"This is just ridiculous," A toad demon said.

"I agree," another one said. "Let's get out of here."

Several other demons began to talk about the situation and many more began to make their moves to leave.

"Enough," Sesshōmaru said in a voice so loud it could probably be heard in the next country. Then his voice returned to its calm smoothness. "In case any of you haven't realized, we are completely unknown territory. We have no idea what other creatures live here and what they are capable of. If you try going off on your own now you put not only your own lives at risk, but the lives of all of us. Our only hope is to stand together and move along. Only then can we build a new home for all of us, where we can live in peace."

"Lord Sesshōmaru is correct," Tōtōsai said. "If we don't stick together than many of us will surely die."

"I hate to admit it but I agree with the dog as well," Kōga said. "We just ended a war. I'm not about to find another way to get potentially killed."

"Yeah, and if we're going to find a new place to settle in this dimension," Kagome said.

Many demons just nodded and murmured their agreements to each other while many just stayed silent.

"Come," Sesshōmaru said. "If we stay here, we'll never find a new place to settle."

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They all had been walking around for over an hour and still had not found place that seemed suitable for every one of them to settle into. Suddenly they heard a noise and they noticed two humans, they appeared to be battling each other. What surprised them even more was that one of them had red pupils in his eyes.

"That's weird," Kōga remarked. "One has a strange eye color, but both of them definitely smell human."

"Yeah, but there's a something strange about both their auras," Kagome stated. "They're not demonic, but there's something strange about both of them."

"Well, I don't know if I want to stick around to find out," Shippō said.

"Let's keep moving then," Sesshōmaru said.

So they all continued on in a new direction away from the feuding humans.

After about another twenty minutes of walking they saw a body of water ahead, and once they cleared the trees they saw something across the water. It was an island, a rather big one too, it had a several huge mountains, and many trees, which probably meant a lot of forest terrain, and of course it was surrounded by water. It looked like there was a pleasant climate for every type of demon.

"Well, it looks like we've found a place to settle," Tōtōsai stated.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 _300 Years Later_

Kagome exited the order chambers and made her way to the exit. She couldn't believe three hundred years had passed. Not ageing anymore was still something that she hadn't quite gotten used to, along with the fact that it took a lot more than it used to, to actually damage her. When they found the island a lot had to be done, mainly all the demons building settlements for themselves to live in. One of the first orders of business though was to create an order to help govern the land. Sesshōmaru of course was a member, and Kōga was as well since he was now leader of the wolf demon tribe. Tōtōsai was offered a seat, but he politely refused. So besides the three of them, there were seven other demons, each a different race. It was important that all the species were spoken for, and finding intelligent demons was not so hard considering all the demons who were transferred to this dimension had a level of human intelligence at the least. Which did make sense in a way since that means the unintelligent one were left behind which explained why there were no demons where she was born; they ones left were probably killed off to extinction by the humans.

Not long after everyone was settled in several of them, had begun to observe the strange humans that they encountered the day they were transported to this world. Well, mainly Kagome because she was human and didn't look suspicious like the demons did. They learned the people they saw were ninja, also called shinobi, and they fought with something they called jutsus.

Kagome herself hadn't changed that much since she stopped ageing, only a little physically, her body stopped aging when she hit her mid-twenties. Her hair was longer now, stopping at her mid-back, and her sense of style had changed a lot. She no longer walked around in skirts all the time, in fact she traded them for pants. It hadn't been that hard for her to get new clothes. Almost a century ago the shinobi began claiming land and building their own villages. So she would often go into a village and trade things, like crops and herbs that Jenenji had grown for new clothes. She was currently clothed in a light blue t-shirt with a dark blue zip-up jacket over it, black shorts, and a pair of black sandals that she learned were quite popular among the shinobi.

Today the order had finally come to a decision. They were going to interact with the shinobi and attempt to negotiate peace; everyone was getting tired of the constant hiding. Of course they were sending Kagome since she was a human, and again, much, much, less of a scare factor. They decided that they would send her to Konohagakure, since out of all the villages they observed over the years it seemed the least outwardly hostile.

"Well Kagome," Kōga began. "Are you gonna head out soon?"

"Yes," Kagome replied. "I think I'm going to head back to my house now to gather up some supplies."

"You shouldn't go alone though," a voice said from behind the two.

Both turned to see Sesshōmaru approaching.

"Konohagakure may be the least hostile of all the villages we have observed, but we still don't fully know what the shinobi are capable of," he stated.

The group proceeded out of the building and started walking toward the fork in the path that separated their homes.

"I wasn't planning on that to begin with," Kagome declared. "I'm taking Kilala with me. Now if both of you will excuse me, I'm going to go back to pack some stuff."

So Kagome headed in one direction while Kōga and Sesshōmaru headed in two different direction.

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When Kagome returned to her house she found Jenenji out in garden planting herbs. Before heading inside the house she stopped to tell him what was going on. Her house was down by the ocean, but the land they were on wasn't necessarily beachy, it had lots of grass fertile soil for Jenenji to grow things on; and the fact that the ocean was right there made it very easy for them to fish. She was glad that she choose to live by the ocean. The mountains where Kōga had settled were nice, but she preferred being closer to the ground; and while she thought she should be well used to forests by now, she could never live there like Sesshōmaru did, it made her think too much of the feudal era. She was also able to have a nice house for her and some of her friends. Her house might not have been as big as Sesshōmaru's but it was still pretty big.

It was made of mostly stone and was two stories high. Inside on the first floor was a small dining room area with a long wooden table with six chairs. On the left was a big area with a fireplace against the left wall, and a bed where Jenenji slept. Kagome tried to convince him to have his own room since there were plenty, but he insisted he sleep down stairs. Also on that particular side of the room the view went all the way up to the ceiling of the top floor of the house. To the right of it was the kitchen, of course Kagome was the only one who cooked, but Jenenji grew everything and did most of the fishing so the least she could do was cook; besides, she never stopped enjoying cooking. Right next to the kitchen area was the bathroom. The stairs leading to the second floor were also on the left side of the room.

On the second floor there were four different rooms. First there was Kagome's bedroom, and second was Shippō's bedroom, then there were a few guest rooms, Kilala didn't needed a room. She just wondered around as she pleased, and a library, Kagome had a fondness for books over the centuries.

Anyway, Kagome headed into her house and up to her bedroom to start packing a bag.

"Is that you Kagome?" A familiar tenor voice questioned.

Standing in her doorway was Shippō with Kilala. God, sometimes she still couldn't get used to the fact that he was growing. Sure he only appeared to be in his early teens now, but she still thinks about the small boy with the ribbon she met all those years ago.

"Hey Shippō," Kagome greeted.

"What are you doing?" Shippō asked.

"I'm going to Konohagakure to negotiate peace," Kagome declared.

"By yourself?" Shippō asked.

"No, I'm taking Kilala with me," Kagome replied.

"Oh, why just her?" Shippō asked.

"If something goes wrong I'll need a quick way to escape," Kagome said. "Besides Shippō, are you telling me you'd really leave Jenenji here by himself?"

"No, I guess not," Shippō said a little guiltily.

"I thought not," Kagome stated.

After a few more minutes Kagome had everything she needed packed.

"Alright," she said. "I'm gonna head out. Come on Kilala."

The little cat demon jumped onto Kagome's shoulder.

"Be careful Kagome," Shippō said.

"Don't worry," Kagome said. "I will be."

With that said she and Kilala headed downstairs and out the door.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 **Hi so I wanted to clear a couple of things up now that the first chapter is done. For a better idea on what Kagome's house looks like, think of the Halls the Jarls live in in** _ **Skyrim**_ **. Also LadySongbird16 and I have decided to leave who we eventually pair up Kagome with to our readers. We picked two** _ **Inuyasha**_ **characters, Sesshomaru and Bankotsu and two** _ **Naruto**_ **characters, Kakashi and Itachi. To vote please write it in a review or send a PM to me or LadySongbird16.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone I'm really sorry that this chapter took so long. LadySongbird16 apologizes profusely for the delay, her computer has been having issues lately so she was unable to send me the chapter. The next update should not take nearly as much time. We hope all of our readers like this update and that it was worth the wait. If you have the time please leave a review we are still taking votes for the main pairing and comments and feedback is always welcome.**

 **Chapter 2**

As Kagome and Kilala made their way to the Hidden Leaf Village Kagome couldn't help but get lost in thought. Three hundred years, that's how long it's been since she's seen her family and her friends from home as well as her friends in the Feudal Era. She wondered quite often about how Miroku, Sango, Rin, and Kaede went about their lives when they realized that all the demons had been taken out of the Feudal Era. Sango must have missed Kilala a lot. At least Kilala was safe here though. Kagome could tell for a long time when they first got here that Kilala really missed Sango. Kagome was grateful to have friends like Kilala, Jenenji, Shippō, Kōga, and even Sesshōmaru with her in this era; she longed to see her other friends and family again sometime though, especially Inuyasha.

God, how she missed him. Sometimes just thinking about him made her sad. The man she loved was gone; and she never even got the chance to tell him that she loved him. Still that was 300 hundred years ago, it was time to stop crying. Of course, she couldn't stand having any reminders of him either, that only made the pain feel fresh. When Tessaiga ended up traveling to this word with them, she couldn't even look at it. Sesshōmaru was had it in his home, but of course he still couldn't wield it let alone use it.

Anyway, she and Kilala had been flying for probably three hours now and she could finally see large gates with the symbol for Konohagakure on it that she had seen on the map she was given not too long ago. So she had Kilala land a few feet away from the gates and she shrunk back down to size. Kilala jumped up onto Kagome's shoulder and they continued the rest of the few feet to the gates.

When she was only a few meters in front of the gate two shinobi jumped out; of course Kagome wasn't startled, she expected shinobi to be this alert.

So Kagome took out a scroll she had been given to by the village a week prior to say that she had been given permission to enter the village and that the Hokage was indeed expecting her. One of the shinobi read through it before handing it back to her.

"Welcome to Konohagakure Miss Higarashi," he said. "The Hokage's residence straight ahead, a chūnin by the name of Iruka Umino will be at the entrance to escort you to the Hokage's office."

Kagome gave both shinobi a polite nod of acknowledgement before stepping through the gates and heading straight in the direction of the hokage's residence. As she and Kilala walked through the dirt covered streets of the Hidden Leaf Village she observed her surroundings. It reminded her a little bit of the Feudal Era, but also of Tokyo as well. There were things like book stands, a few restraunts, a flower shop, and several inns, but it didn't look as quite modern as how things were in Tokyo, so it wasn't almost like a combination of the two. After about twenty minutes of walking she approached a large building with a circular design to some of the architecture. She noticed a man wearing clothes similar to those the shinobi at the gate were wearing, he also had the same headband. He looked to be probably in his early twenties. He had brown hair in a high ponytail, dark eyes, and there was a scar running across the bridge of his nose.

He took note of her almost instantly as she approached the door.

"Kagome Higarashi?" He questioned.

"Yes," Kagome replied. "Are you Iruka Umino?"

"Yes," he replied. "If you'll follow me, Lord Hokage is expecting you."

So Kagome followed him up the stairs of the large building until they reached a door on the far right-hand corner of the top floor. Iruka opened the door and slightly and poked his head in.

"Lord Hokage," he began. "Kagome Higarashi is here."

"Send her in," she heard a deep masculine voice say.

So Iruka opened the door and ushered Kagome in before stepping in behind her and closing the door.

Kagome saw on old man sitting at a desk across the room. He had gray hair, tan skin with visible wrinkles to show his older age, dark eyes, and was wearing a red and white haori with a symbol on the front of the hat, and a red kimono tied with a white sash.

"Well, well, I must stay it's a pleasure to finally meet you Kagome Higarashi," he said. "I am Hiruzen Saratobi, Third Hokage of Konohagakure."

"The pleasure is mine Lord Hokage," Kagome said politely.

"Well, let's get straight to business then," the Hokage said. "The scroll your village sent said that you have come here with terms of negotiation?"

"Yes," Kagome. "I come from a village on an island made mostly of demons."

"Demons?!" The Hokage and Iruka questioned in slight shock.

"Yes," Kagome replied. "We settled on this land three hundred years ago and we took note and witnessed some of the conflict among the shinobi, as well as the creation of some of the several hidden villages. Although many of our villagers differ in species, we do not wish to have any conflict with the shinobi. We just feel that there is no need to hide anymore and to make it known that we come in peace."

"Tell me," the Hokage said. "Do the demons of your village possess great power?"

"Yes," Kagome replied. "I am part of our village's version of your council with nine demons of different races. Some who I have known since before we came to this land. All of them possess strong powers that could match or even best the skills that I have seen several shinobi use."

"Wait, so you mean to say that you are part of this council, and the only human?" Iruka questioned.

"Yes," Kagome replied. "And yes, while I am still human, I possess powers that have allowed me to live a much longer lifespan of the average human and stopped aging."

"How is this so," the Hokage asked.

"This might be hard to grasp Lord Hokage, but we were transported here by a sacred object," Kagome declared. "Before the people of my village settled on this land, we lived in another time known as the Feudal Era in a land called Japan. The objects original purpose was to grant wishes. Unfortunately any wish that wasn't selfish would always have some kind of horrible downside. Eventually my friends and I were able to obtain it, so we came to a decision about what to do with it, but the decision was ultimately up to me since it was my responsibility since I was supposed to protect it. So in order to bring peace to the Feudal Era, I wished that I be the last protector of the object. Next thing we knew me as well as every creature with demon blood in them had been transferred to this world."

"And where is the object now?" The Hokage asked.

"It was returned to where it previously came from," Kagome stated " and in addition to that, it made me immortal, to fulfill my wish of making me its last keeper."

"If you don't mind me asking why was the object your responsibility to protect and how can a human hold a position of power among powerful demons?" Iruka questioned"

"Yes I find myself wondering that as well" the Hokage commented.

"Oh that's alright no disrespect felt. I happen to be a priestess with lots of spiritual power" Kagome replied.

"With all due respect, this story is rather strange," Iruka said.

"I don't disagree with you Iruka," the Hokage said. "Priestesses are not unknown in our world though, and we know that besides the demons she speaks of in her village that there are other demons out there somewhere. If these demons want to negotiate peace we will have take up this opportunity."

"So you will negotiate a treaty with us?" Kagome questioned.

"Yes Lady Kagome, we will," the Hokage replied. "I take it that you will be journeying to other villages as well to make the same negotiations?"

"Yes Lord Hokage," Kagome replied.

"I will have word sent to all the other hidden villages," the Hokage said. "It may take a few days though."

"That doesn't bother me," Kagome said. "The rest of the council does not expect me back anytime soon."

"Very well," the Hokage replied. "I will send for you when I have a word from the other villages. In the mean time you are welcome to stay in one of the inns of our village and may go anywhere in Kohona apart from the academy training grounds. Once I hear back from the other Villages we will begin to discuss our negotiation."

"Thank you Lord Hokage," Kagome said.

The Hokage stood up to shake her hand before looking at Iruka.

"Iruka, show Lady Kagome out please," he said.

"Yes Lord Hokage," Iruka said before escorting Kagome out the door.

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After Kagome found an inn and settled in there she got hungry and decided to go and look for something to eat. She remembered seeing a ramen shop called Ichiraku Ramen on her way to the Hokage residence so she decided to check it out. Of course ramen was another thing that made her think of Inuyasha quite often, but she did still enjoy ramen, even before she met him; so no point in letting that ruin her appetite for it. So she and Kilala decided to go there. So when she got there she ordered a Tonkotsu ramen for herself and asked for some roasted meat for Kilala. For several minutes she just sat there slowly eating her meal and thinking about everything that was happening. The other villages had better be willing to agree to peace treaty, the last thing she wanted was another war with demons, and the shinobi clearly weren't ordinary humans so who knew what they could do against demons.

All of Kagome's thoughts were interrupted when she heard a very loud sigh. She looked across the counter to see a young boy, probably no more than 12 He had spikey blonde hair, blue eyes, and markings on his cheek that resembled cat whiskers. He was wearing and orange and blue sweat zip-up, orange pants, and blue shinobi sandals. He was just sitting there almost just staring at his ramen with a down look on his face. There was something very strange about him though. Kagome sensed something different about his aura, it was powerful like a demon's, but she wouldn't say that the aura was demonic. Either way he looked upset about something, so might as well ask what it is.

"Hey," Kagome said catching his attention. "Are you okay?"

The boy looked at her strangely. "Are you talking to me lady?" He questioned.

"Yeah, you seen down about something," Kagome stated.

"Yeah, but it's nothing I can't get over after all," the boy stated. "I'm a real ninja now, and I know someday I'll become Hokage; and real ninja don't let emotions get in the way of their missions and their duties."

"Fair enough," Kagome replied. "I can believe that. At the same time though, you are still human, and humans naturally show certain emotions; and from what I tell you don't seem happy about something."

The boy looked at her for a few seconds before his expression turned into one of defeat.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he said.

"You just get back from a mission?" Kagome asked.

"Yeah, and it was a pretty long and dangerous one," he replied.

"Did someone die?" Kagome asked.

"Yeah," he said with a hint of sadness in his voice.

"I see," Kagome replied. "Well listen here, as someone who has seen a lot of death in her life, I can agree on you that it's a sad thing even if you don't really know the person sometimes. At the same time though, death is a part of life, everyone has to die eventually at some point; and as strange as it sounds sometimes death can be a good thing because a person may have suffered a lot in their years of living and through dying they're finally able to escape it and find peace."

"Yeah," the boy said. "That does make a lot of sense thanks lady."

"No problem," Kagome said before going back to her food.

A few minutes later she was finished, so she paid for her bill and got out of her seat. Kilala jumped on her shoulder, and she was about to turn to leave, but before she did, she turned to see the blonde boy practically inhaling his ramen.

"Well, it was good talking to you kid," she said catching his attention. "Now I have work to do."

"Wait a minute," he said catching her attention before she can turn and leave. "Who are you?"

"Someone who's on a mission herself and taking some time to rest," Kagome stated.

"You don't look like a shinobi?" He said observing her appearance.

"I'm not," Kagome replied. "That doesn't mean I don't have a mission to complete too though."

Kagome turned to leave again, but before she did, she turned and looked at the blonde shinobi again.

"Oh, and not be come off as rude or offend you, but one day you're going to have to tell me what that thing inside of you is," she said before finally turning around and leaving, leaving the young shinobi slightly puzzled.

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 _Three Days Later_

Kagome had received a note from the Hokage that he had an update for her that she should know about. So she headed to the Hokage's residence only this time instead of Iruka greeting her outside the entrance this time another ninja was standing there and told her that the Hokage was expecting her and that she could just go in.

When she got to the door to the Hokage's office though she heard voices on the other side.

"Lord Hokage," a whining boyish voice said. "I'm telling you though, this lady is hiding something, and she just left without telling me her name."

She recognized that voice, the ninja from the ramen shop!

"Well, Naruto," a much calmer voice that she had definitely did not recognize said. "Maybe she didn't want to be bothered. Nobody gets into the village without identifying themselves first, as you probably forgot.

So, Naruto was the name of this ninja with the strange aura. Who else is in there with him though?

"Come on Naruto," another familiar voice said, Iruka. "Lord Hokage doesn't have time for nonsense like this."

"This isn't nonsense," Naruto stated. "This lady looked pretty young, but acted a lot older, not to mention she had this weird looking cat creature with her."

Older, okay, some offense taken, even if she was technically over 300 years old.

"Naruto please," Lord Hokage's voice said. "I really don't have time for this. I have business to discuss with someone now, and I don't want to keep my guest waiting.

Kagome kinda saw this as an opportunity to go in and slowly opened the door and walked in.

"Hi, is this a bad time?" Kagome asked. "I can come back later if necessary."

Naruto just looked at her in shock.

"You," he said pointing at her in disbelief. "That's her Kakashi sensei." He said to the ninja next to him. She's the woman I ran into."

This ninja was Naruto's sensei. She had heard that genin, the ninja who graduated from the academy, were lead in squads of three by a higher ranking ninja known as jōnin. So was this older jōnin was the ninja who lead Naruto and two other genin? There was nothing about him that really made Kagome feel suspicious; his appearance was a little strange though.

She was a tall man, looking around the same age as her, well physically speaking anyway, with spikey silver hair, and dark eyes. Well, one dark eye, his other eye was being covered by the shinobi headband which he wore askew, and there was also a mask covering his nose and mouth.

"Oh, Lady Kagome," the Hokage said. "No, come right in."

So Kagome entered the room and closed the door behind her.

"Lady Kagome," the Hokage said. "I'd like you to meet Naruto Uzamaki, one of the many genin of our village. Although from what I've been told you two have met before."

"Yes, we met," Kagome said with an amused smirk.

"And this," the Hokage said motioning to the tall silver-haired ninja. "Is Kakashi Hatake, the jōnin that leads Naruto's squad; also known around as "The Copycat Ninja."

Copycat Ninja, why would anyone call him that?

"Well it's nice to meet both of you, officially," Kagome said looking at Naruto and Kakashi.

Kilala meowed in agreement.

"See Kakashi sensei," Naruto pointed out again. "She does have a catlike creature with her."

"Oh, yes," Kagome said looking at Kilala with a small smile. "I didn't get to introduce Kilala last time I was here. Kilala is a cat demon."

"Demon?" Naruto questioned.

"Yes, she is a demon, she's harmless in this form though" Kagome said. "In her more powerful form she is much bigger, and more dangerous, and she can fly."

"Bigger form?" Iruka questioned.

"I can have her show you for a minutes," Kagome suggested.

"Awesome, show us!" Naruto exclaimed.

"I must admit I am interesting in seeing this as well," the Hokage stated.

"Alright then," Kagome said. "You might want to stand back a little. She might take up a lot of space."

So they backed up and Kilala jumped off of Kagome's shoulder and landed a few feet in front of her. Then there was a burst of large flames and next thing everyone knew Kilala was huge, and had fangs like a saber tooth tiger.

"Woah!" Naruto exclaimed.

"This is her ultimate demon form?" The Hokage questioned.

"Yes," Kagome replied. "And like I said, she can fly in this form. Although this room is a little too small for a demonstration of that."

Kilala then shrunk back to her smaller form and jumped back onto Kagome's shoulder.

"Well, that was rather impressive," Kakashi said nonchalantly.

"Yes it was," the Hokage replied. "Now if you all will excuse me, Lady Kagome and I have business to discuss."

"Aw but Lord Hokage," Naruto complained.

"Now Naruto, if you wish to speak with Lady Kagome, you may do so at another time," the Hokage said. "Now please leave."

So Naruto was practically dragged out of the room by Kakashi, and Iruka left as well.

"I apologize for the delay Lady Kagome," the Hokage said.

"It's okay," Kagome replied. "Before we discuss business though. May I ask you a question about Naruto?"

"What of Naruto?" The Hokage asked.

"I noticed something strange about his aura," Kagome stated. "It seems stronger than most other shinobi, almost matching that of a demon's, I can tell it doesn't have the strength of a demon though, but it's strange, like a very powerful spirit."

"I am sorry, but that is a Village secret" the Hokage stated.

"That's alright I can respect that" Kagome replied. "So on too business, what did you want to talk about."

"Ah, yes," the Hokage said. "The Village Hidden in the Sand, the Village Hidden in the Clouds, and the Village Hidden in the Sound have accepted your request to talk to their kages. We are just waiting to hear from a few more. I wouldn't expect it to take more than a few more days."

"Very well," Kagome stated. "I will make use of the time I have here while we wait for more word."

"I will again send for you when I receive word from the remaining kages," the Hokage said.

"Thank you Lord Hokage," Kagome said getting up to leave.

"And Lady Kagome," the Hokage said catching her attention before she walked out the door. "While you remain here, I suggest you try and stay out of trouble."

Kagome looked confused for a brief moment.

"It won't be one of my intentions Lord Hokage," Kagome declared before leaving.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 _Two days later_

Kagome decided since she was probably going to be here for who knows how much longer that she might as well keep her combat skills sharp. So she and Kilala had decided to go out into the woods so Kagome could work on her sword skills. Today she was wearing a green tank top, black Capri pants, and black shinobi sandals. She also had her hair tied up in a ponytail.

Swordsmanship was a skills she had picked up when she came to this world. She thought that having another skill other than archery, in case God forbid she was ever caught without her bow and arrows like she has been before, would be a good idea. Sesshōmaru, not so surprisingly, was willing to help teach her.

She and Kilala had been out in the woods for a little over two hours, and the whole time she could have sworn she heard some strange noises.

Kagome turned toward the trees.

"I know you're watching me," she said. "You can stop hiding now."

Then out of the trees jumped none other than Kakashi Hatake.

"You knew I was there the whole time didn't you?" The Copycat ninja questioned calmly.

"All of you shinobi have a certain aura to you," Kagome said. "Different than the auras of normal humans. As a priestess I can distinguish between certain auras. I assume the Hokage told you that since he assigned you to keep an eye on me?"

"He might have mentioned something along those lines," Kakashi said. "It's not every day you meet an immortal priestess, who also happens to be on the council of a village where more than half the population consists of demons."

"I guess it isn't," Kagome said sarcastically.

She continued her practice, slashing at some dummies she had made from logs and old tree branches.

"You're stance is a little too sloppy," Kakashi suddenly said.

"What?" Kagome questioned.

"If you bend your knees just a little more, it will help you turn faster," Kakashi suggested.

Kagome tried what he suggested and she did indeed move and turn faster.

"Thanks," Kagome said to Kakashi.

"No problem," Kakashi replied.

Then he looked in behind him and threw a kunai at the tree.

"Alright you three," he said. "No more hiding."

"Aw man," a familiar voice said.

Then three young ninjas jumped down from the tree. It was Naruto, with two other young genin.

One was a boy with black hair and onyx eyes. He was dressed in a blue shirt, white shorts, and blue shinobi sandals; like Naruto he wore the blue shinobi headband.

The other was a girl with long pink hair and emerald eyes. She wore a sleeveless red slit dress with an open white circle on the bottom part, blue Capri shorts, and blue shinobi sandals. She like the others wore the blue shinobi headband, only she wore it like a girl would actually wear a headband, placing it at the top of her head.

"What are you three doing here?" Kakashi asked.

"I just wanted Sasuke and Sakura to meet Kagome," Naruto stated. "We know you wouldn't let us come with you Kakashi-sensei."

"So you followed me around," Kakashi stated.

"So is it true though Kagome?" Naruto asked.

"Is what true exactly Naruto?" Kagome asked.

"That you're really a priestess that's lived for over three hundred years and you're part of a council in a village comprised of mostly demons?"  
"As outlandish as it may sound to some yes," Kagome stated.

"What's this village of yours like then?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, like you just heard," Kagome began. "It does consist of mostly demons, but there are also half-demons, and a few other humans that have joined us over the years. It's on an island, but there's also mountains and many forests as well as some beach land. I live by the ocean with a young fox demon named Shippō, a kind half-demon named Jenenji, and Kilala here."

Kilala ran over to the three and jumped on Naruto's shoulder giving him an affectionate nuzzle.

"Looks like she's taken a liking to you Naruto," Kagome said amused.

"The idiot claims she has a different form," Sasuke pointed out.

"Oh she does," Kagome stated. "Go on Kilala show them."

So Kilala jumped off Naruto's shoulder and transformed into her larger demon form and Sasuke and Sakura just stood there with looks of absolute shock on their faces (shinobi or not they're still kids). Then she transformed back into her smaller form.

"Well as dangerous as she looks like that she's still cute," Sakura said bending down to pet Kilala.

"Is it also true that your part of a council made up of all demons?" Naruto continued asking his questions.

"Yes I am," Kagome stated.

"Are there any other females on the council?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, along with me there are three other females," Kagome stated. "Then there are six men."

"What's the council's main purpose?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, there are several types of demons on the island," Kagome stated. "Each of our councilors is from a different race of demon to represent demons of the same or a similar race."

"That does sound like it would make the most sense in that case," Sakura replied.

"Listen you three," Kakashi began. "As curious as the three of you are. I don't think Lady Kagome came here to play 20 questions with all of you."

"I honestly don't mind," Kagome replied. "Please though, no more Lady Kagome, you all can just call me Kagome. I've never really been a big fan of formalities."

"If you say so La…Kagome," Kakashi said correcting himself.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi everyone, sorry about the short chapter but LadySongbird16 and I wanted to get it out quickly. We hope that everyone likes it and that everyone has a nice weekend. If you have the time please leave a review, we always appreciate feedback.**

 **Chapter 3**

A few weeks later Kagome had finally received word from the Hokage that he would like to speak to her. So the next day she returned to the Hokage residence where she found Iruka waiting for her outside the entrance.

"Welcome back Lady Kagome," he said. "The Hokage is expecting you."

"Thank you Iruka," Kagome said with all small smile before entering the building and making her way up to the Hokage's office. She knocked and was told to come in. When she entered she found the Hokage sitting as his desk. Only she noticed something unusual. There were several scrolls placed on his desk.

"Lady Kagome," the Hokage said.

"Lord Hokage," Kagome acknowledged.

"I am glad that you were able to come," the Hokage stated. "You're weeks of waiting must have been making you anxious."

"A bit," Kagome replied. "At the same time though it was rather nice to stay in one place for a while considering all traveling that is yet to come for me."

"Yes, well I believe that your traveling will start again soon considering what all these scrolls will eventually show you," the Hokage stated.

"Is that so?" Kagome asked.

"Yes," the Hokage replied. "These are scrolls from all the other hidden villages. The other kages have agreed to meet with you and discuss your negotiations with you. I have decide that our village will also accept your negotiations for peace and we agreed to openly trade with the people of your land."

"Well it pleases me to know that our terms of negotiation were simple enough for you to accept," Kagome replied. "There is something that you must understand though Lord Hokage. If any demon is threatened and/or attacked by one of your shinobi they will attack."

"Rest assured Lady Kagome," the Hokage began. "Shinobi generally operate on the same type of instinct. So I believe once the shinobi of the village learn of possible future demon presence, they will be wise enough to know not to mess with creatures of equal if not more power and strength. As for trading agreements I must ask if you have a specific tradesman who goes throughout the land and trades your valuables with others."

"Usually our human residences have taken the responsibility of that task," Kagome stated. "Since you will now openly trade more with my village I believe that there is an option to send one of our tradesmen to your village once a month. Of course, what day of the month that I must discuss with the rest of the council."

"Yes of course," the Hokage replied. "I must ask this though. When do you believe that you will head out to continue this mission?"

"As soon as possible," Kagome stated.

"Very well then," the Hokage said. "Just make sure you take these scrolls with you. You will have to show one to the shinobi at the village entries just as you did when you came here."

"Thank you Lord Hokage," Kagome said taking the scrolls and shaking the Hokage's hand.

"You're quite welcome Lady Kagome," he replied.

OooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooWell, it had been quite a while, but Kagome was finally returning to her village. She stopped counting the days and the weeks she had been away. Her journey to all the other villages had been quite, interesting. She didn't even want to count how many days it took her to get to the Village Hidden in the Mist. It was on an island just like her home was, but it was quite a journey there, and it was still long. The Village Hidden in the Clouds was not the most welcoming place she had ever visited. The shinobi there were very suspicious of her every move. Then there was the Village Hidden in the Sand. While the Kuzukage was polite, something about him made him seem, off, and she sensed some kind of strange aura in one of his sons. There was some sort of spirit inside of him like there was in Naruto, but she felt a little too uncomfortable in that village to even think about asking what it was.

When she finally crossed was standing on the land of her own village she felt glad to be back. She just hoped that no one was too worried about her all this time he was gone, mainly Sesshōmaru or Kōga, Sesshōmaru might have had a strange way of showing it, but Kagome did know that's Sesshōmaru did care and worry about her. The reason why though is something that still continued to phase her though, even after all these years. Damn the dog demon and his cool and cold demeanor.

The first thing Kagome decided to do was report to the council hall to see if anyone else was still there. It was only the middle of the afternoon so someone was bound to be there. When she entered the building she saw a familiar face heading down the stairs.

"Tōran," Kagome said acknowledging the leader of the Panther Devas. "What are you doing here?"

"Kagome, you've returned," the panther demon said in surprise. "We were wondering when you'd be back. I was discussing some business matters with some of the other councilors."

"Are Sesshōmaru or Kōga here?" Kagome asked.

"No, they left, a few hours ago actually," Tōran stated. "I don't remember Sesshōmaru's reasoning, but I do recall Kōga saying something about how Ayame was going to kill him."

Kagome laughed at this.

"Has you received any word from any of the other villages since my departure?" Kagome asked.

"Yes actually," Tōran stated. "A few weeks ago we received a scroll from the Hidden Leaf Village. They are hosting an event called the Chūnin exams, apparently it is an event that allows all of their younger shinobi the opportunity to be promoted in the ranks."

"That is strange," Kagome said. "I think the Hokage ever mentioned something like that to me."

"Apparently, only the third and finally round of the exams is opened for the public viewing." Tōran said. "Sesshōmaru suggested that after our next meeting that we call a meeting of the entire village and see if any of the other citizens have interest in going."

"Well, hopefully everyone realizes that we're not supposed to mess with the shinobi," Kagome said.

"So have you just come to make sure that we knew of your return" Tōran questioned?

"Yes, I did," Kagome stated. "And now that you know and that several other villagers have seen me I'm sure Sesshōmaru will find out in no time. Now I think I will return home."

"Yes, you must be exhausted," Tōran said. "Well, I will let you return to your home then."

"Alright, I'll see you around then," Kagome said turning around and heading toward the exit.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Kagome made her way back to her house to find Jenenji outside working in his garden as usual. He did notice her return though and he was very happy to see her.

"Kagome you've returned," He said picking her up and giving her a hug.

"Yes, yes," Kagome said. "I am very happy to see you too Jenenji. Kilala and I are glad to be back."

"How was your journey" Jenenji asked?

"Why don't I go inside and get settled in a bit and then I {all tell you and Shippō all about it" Kagome suggested.

"Okay," Jenenji replied.

OooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooWhen Kagome entered the house the first thing she did noticed was that Shippō was nowhere in sight.

"Shippō," she yelled. "I'm home."

Suddenly Kagome heard the sound of a door opening and feet running down the hall and next thing she knew Shippō was attacking her with a hug.

"Kagome I'm so glad you're back,' he said with a grin.

Kilala jumped onto his shoulder and gave him an affectionate nuzzle.

"I'm happy to see you as well Kilala,"he said.

"Have you been behaving Shippō," Kagome asked.

"Yes," Shippō said. "I've even been helping Jenenji with his garden."

"Glad to hear it," Kagome said.

"So Kagome, are you going to tell me what you and Kilala encountered on your journey" Shippō asked.

"Of course I will Shippō," Kagome replied. "First let me go put my stuff away," Kagome said heading up to her room.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 **Every few chapter we are going to give the ranking on the votes for the main paring, so here's the first one:**

 **1** **st** **: Kakashi**

 **2** **nd** **: Sesshomaru**

 **3** **rd** **: Itachi**

 **4** **th** **: Bankotsu**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello everyone LadySongbird16 and I hope you all like this newest update. As always if you have the time please leave a review. If you have any ideas you'd like to share please feel free to review or PM either me or LadySongbird16, feedback is always welcome.**

 **Chapter 4**

After Kagome put her things back in her room she went back down stairs where Shippō and Jinenji were waiting for her.

"So come on Kagome," Shippō began. "Tell us what happened. What are the shinobi villages like? What were the shinobi like?"

"They're definitely not like any human warriors that we would have seen or clashed with in the Feudal Era, that's for sure," Kagome stated.

"Did you get to see any of them in action?" Shippō questioned.

"I saw a few shinobi training in the Village Hidden in the Sand, but that was about it," Kagome declared. "All the shinobi of the hidden villages are different. I will tell you this though, the sand village did give me some strange vibes."

"How so?" Jinenji asked.

"Well, the Kuzukage, the leader of their village, he was polite," Kagome stated. "Something didn't seem quite right about him though, or his children."

"What do you mean by that?" Shippō asked.

"Well, let's just say that I sensed something strange inside one of his sons," Kagome stated.

"Something demonic?" Jinenji asked.

"No," Kagome replied. "It was strong enough to be demonic, but I think it was some kind of powerful spirit though."

"What were the other villages like?" Shippō questioned. "Anything strange happen in them?"  
"Well," Kagome began. "The Village Hidden in the Clouds wasn't the friendliest of places either, people there were strangely suspicious of me. Oh, and there was this really loud and kinda annoying blonde genin in the Village Hidden in the Leaves that I also sensed some kind of powerful spirit inside of as well."

"So some of the shinobi are more powerful or unusual as we made them out to be?" Jinenji asked.

"Some of them yes definitely," Kagome stated. "So, I don't know about you two, but I'm starving. Who has suggestions for dinner tonight?"

"I was actually thinking about catching some fish after I finished planting some herbs," Jinenji said.

"Fish does sound really good tonight actually," Kagome stated.

Then she had another idea.

"How about we all eat on the beach tonight?" She suggested.

"That sounds like a very good idea," Jinenji stated.

"Sounds like fun," Shippō added.

"Alright," Kagome stated. "I'm going to go get changed." Kagome stated.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 _An Hour Later_

Kagome, Shippō and Kilala were helping Jenenji catch fish, not without splashing around and playing in the water every few minutes too though. Kagome was dressed in a plain purple tankini that showed off a good amount of skin, and Shippō was wearing dark blue swim shorts.

"I've missed being able to just have fun with you guys like this," Kagome said.

"Well, you did go a long time without it," Shippō said. "I say next time you should take us with you."  
"If it's not too dangerous I think I will," Kagome added.

"Come on Kagome," Shippō said. "I'm a full-fledged fox demon now. You don't need to worry about me all the time."

"Yeah I do," Kagome replied.

Shippō just rolled his eyes, but of course Kagome saw it.

"Hey don't roll your eyes at me mister," Kagome said in a threatening mothering tone.

"Sorry," Shippō said fearfully.

 _Half an hour later_

Kagome, Shippō, Jinenji, and Kilala were sitting on the beach still, only they were sitting by a fire and eating the fish Jinenji had caught.

"Now this is some pretty good fish," Shippō stated. "You definitely know how to catch the good ones Jinenji."

"Thank you Shippō," Jinenji replied.

"So," Kagome said. "Did you two do anything eventful why I was gone?" Kagome asked.

"Not really," Shippō said. "Every day seemed to go by just the same. It was kinda boring."  
"I must say though the garden looks great Jinenji," Kagome stated.

"Thank you Kagome," Jinenji replied. "I should actually be able to start mixing some of them together tomorrow into healing potions to sell at the market."

"That's good," Kagome said.

Then Kagome saw somebody walking toward them in the distance. It was Sesshōmaru.

"Hello Sesshōmaru," Kagome said. "What brings you here?"

"I see you made it back," Sesshōmaru replied. "I'm surprised you didn't report to me as soon as you returned."

"I went to the council hall," Kagome confirmed. "When I got there though Tōran was the only one there and she had told me that you and Kōga had already left. What does it matter as long as someone else on the council was informed that I returned?"

"We have much to discuss about what you encountered in the shinobi villages," Sesshōmaru stated.

"Well, why don't you sit down and enjoy some fish with us and I can tell you whatever you want to know right now?" Kagome offered.

"You know I don't eat human food," Sesshōmaru replied. "Besides, I believe your experiences are something that should be shared with the rest of the council as well."

"So I assume we will be discussing the matters of the scroll we received from the Hidden Leaf Village as well?" Kagome questioned.

"Yes," Sesshōmaru replied.

As Sesshōmaru moved to walk away, Shippō watched Kagome make her way toward the house.

He saw this as an opportunity and walked toward Sesshōmaru.

"Well, you seemed to be staring at her a lot," he commented.

Sesshōmaru turned around slowly and looked at Shippō.

"I was talking to her boy," Sesshōmaru confirmed. "Of course I was looking at her."

"Yeah," Shippō said. "You weren't staring her in the eye the whole time though. You were looking at other parts of her."

"I have no idea what you're speaking of," Sesshōmaru said before turning and walking away.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 _The Next Day_

The council was having their daily meeting and they were discussing Kagome's trip as well as the invitation they had received for the third round of the chūnin exams.

"So the Village Hidden in the Clouds and the Village Hidden in the Sand gave you suspicions?" Kōga asked.

"Yes," Kagome replied. "Their Kages did agree with the negotiations though."  
"What about this Village Hidden in the Sound that you avoided?" Tōran asked. "What do we know of it?"  
"Only that it is a rather new and small village," Kagome stated. "The Hokage told me to specifically stay away from that village."

"I did get near it at one point while traveling. I sensed a lot of malicious intent and hostility and for a moment I thought I also sensed something familiar but it was gone before I could really feel it. I waited for a little while but I did not feel it again" Kagome said.

"Their shinobi are taking part in the chūnin exams though," Sesshōmaru stated.

"Speaking of which," Tōran began. "I understand that we've been invited, but we can't very well take our whole village. How do we decide who goes? After all if no one goes it might seem insulting."  
"We have been offered to set up a booth in the village market for trade," Sesshōmaru stated. "So it would seem best to have at least a few humans there to work the booth."

"I think it's also best that no more than 50 citizens, human and demon go to this event," a Hawk demon councilor added.

"Perhaps we pick somewhere in the middle then?" The fox demon councilor suggested. "30 citizens?"

All the councilors looked at each other for a few seconds before nodding in agreement.

"Very well then," Sesshōmaru stated. "Let us split it evenly then, 15 demons and 15 humans.

Kagome and the other councilors nodded in agreement.

"I think it's also important that a few of us go as well," Tōran said. "Us councilors that is. I believe Kagome should be one of them since the shinobi villages already know her. Plus she is the only human among the council."

"I agree," Kōga added.

All the other councilors nodded in agreement.

"I believe that Lord Sesshōmaru should go also," the moth demon councilor stated. "After all, he is one of the few among us with the most humanoid appearance."

"I shall go," Sesshōmaru stated. "It was part of my plan to begin with, I do wish to see how the skills of these young shinobi in action."

"I was actually thinking the same thing," Kōga stated. "Besides getting off the island for a little bit seems like a good idea."

"Do any other councilors wish to request approval to attend?" Sesshōmaru questioned.

All the other councilors looked at each other before shaking their heads.

"You three should be enough," Tōran stated. "Plus, someone has to keep the rest if the village in line and we do not want to seem overly threatening to the shinobi."

"What about the rest of the 30 citizens we must select?" The fox demon councilor questioned.

"May I make a request?" Kagome questioned.

"Speak freely Lady Kagome," Sesshōmaru said.

"If the rest of the council is okay with it," Kagome began. "I would like Shippō to be allowed to accompany us."

"Shippō does look very humanoid," Kōga said. "Well, besides the tail."

"I see no harm in letting the young fox to accompany you," Tōran added.

Kagome then looked at Sesshōmaru.

"The fox can accompany us yes," Sesshōmaru said. "As for the rest of our villagers, we will spread word and be begin making considerations immediately."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

After a long journey Kagome, Sesshōmaru, Kōga, Shippō, and the other selected humans and demons of the village had finally reached Konohagakure. Tōtōsai, Myōga, and Jenenji were not among the group though, as they chose to stay in the village. When they reached the gate the two shinobi guards greeted them and allowed them through; recognizing Kagome probably helped. As they passed through the streets of the village a lot of demons and humans alike were surprised by the things they were seeing. It was definitely different from their village, and it was definitely nothing like the things many of them remembered and still held onto from the feudal era. Even though they had managed to learn and adapt to some modern things many still held onto lifestyles that they were accustomed to. Of course things like electricity was completely foreign, especially to the human villagers, but when you live on an island there are only so many things that you can access, and so many things that could be obtained through trading.

They weren't the only ones who were surprised and curious though. Several people in the village walking by stopped momentarily and almost just starred and at some of them. It seemed rude yes, but at the same time it was understandable since many of them did still have animalistic features.

At one point Shippō even felt someone try and tug at his tail; and being a teenager appearance and attitude wise this out right pissed him off.

"Hey!" He exclaimed turning around to face his assailants. "Don't touch me!"

He looked as three young children wearing green goggles on their heads.

"I told you it had to be real tail" a boy with brown hair and big thick circular glasses stated.

"Man that's really freaky," another boy with spikey brown hair and dark eyes stated,

"I think it's kinda cute," a red haired girl with big pigtails said. "And the color of it kinda matches my hair.

"That doesn't give you the right to tug on it," Shippō stated. "I wouldn't go around stealing your goggles and pulling at your hair."

"You think you can scare me?" The spikey hair one asked. "I'm the number one ninja in the village, nothing scares me."

"Oh yeah," Shippō stated. "I've traveled with demons more terrifying, and more annoying, than you."

"Shippō," Kagome suddenly said turning to the adolescent fox demon. "Knock it off. This is isn't the kind of first impression that we want from the people of the village."

"They started it though," Shippō complained. "They tugged on my tail."

"I'm sure they didn't mean it," Kagome stated. "They look like nothing more than curious little kids."

"But Kagome," Shippō complained.

"The last thing we need is to cause a disturbance in the village," Kagome warned. "Especially after the Hokage agreed to our treaty."

Shippō said nothing for a good amount of time. Until he let out a frustrated and defeated sigh.

"You're right," he admitted.

"Ha ha," the spikey haired kid mocked.

"You little," he turned around again.

"Konohamaru," a familiar voice suddenly said.

With a large pop, standing behind the three little rascal ninjas was Iruka.

"That's enough," Iruka declared. "You should know better than to harass our honored guests. Good to see you again Lady Kagome. I apologize, the Hokage's grandson is a little high –spirited."  
"Good to see you to Iruka," Kagome said. "And please don't but the blame on all of them. Shippō didn't handle the situation very well either. Why though, I'm not entirely sure. I thought I taught him better."

"Well, how about we let the situation be forgotten and start over?" Iruka suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," Kagome replied.

Iruka looked at Konohamaru and his friends. "Run along kids," he said. "We don't need to be causing more trouble."

Konohamaru and his friends just gave Iruka an annoyed look before walking away.

"We received your scroll that you were coming," Iruka stated. "The Hokage sent me to escort you to his residence. He would like to speak with you and the other counselors."

"It's only me, Lord Sesshōmaru, and Kōga," Kagome said acknowledging said demons who were standing behind her. "The other councilors are of course back in the village, can't leave our people unsupervised.

"I see," Iruka replied. "It's a pleasure to meet both of you."

"Likewise," Kōga replied.

"The pleasure is all ours" Sesshōmaru said.

"As much as we would hate to keep your leader waiting," Kōga began. "We're not entirely sure where we and our citizens are supposed to go."

"Oh yes," Iruka replied. "The Hokage requested some of our Jōnin come and escort your villages to the residency we are provided for you. And one of our merchants will arrive later to show your traders were to set up a booth at our market."

"With all due respect," Kōga said. "I think its best that I stay behind with the villagers, and make sure that all these other demons don't do anything too stupid."

"I'm sure the Hokage will understand," Iruka replied.

"And Shippō will stay with you," Kagome declared.

"Do I have to?" Shippō complained.

"Yes," Kagome replied. "This is your punishment for earlier. Plus somebody has to help Kōga keep all these people in line."

"So shall I take you the Hokage then?" Iruka questioned.

"Yes we are ready to meet with your Hokage," Sesshōmaru said.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Iruka lead Kagome and Sesshōmaru to the Hokage's residence and once they reached his office Iruka knocked before they were told to enter.

"Lord Sesshōmaru," the Hokage greeted. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, I am Hiruzen Saratobi, Third Hokage of Konohagakure. And it is good to see you again Lady Kagome."

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well Lord Hokage," Sesshōmaru said.

Then Sesshōmaru reached into his cloak and pulled out a rather large ancient looking book.

"Now that we finally meet I can offer you this," he declared. "This text contains ancient history of the great demons that came before me and the many demons of our village. Think of it as a token of appreciate for accepting our treaty. And for looking after our village priestess as well."

"Hey, I was perfectly capable and did look after myself," Kagome stated. "I'd hope I'd be able to do so after 300 years anyway."

"Thank you," the Hokage said. "I'm sure I will find these texts intriguing and informative."

"Iruka said that you wished to speak with us Lord Hokage," Kagome stated. "Why do I get the feeling that you didn't come here just to welcome us?"

"Well, I was going to tell you more about our chūnin exams," the Hokage stated. "That is the reason why I invited you all here, but there are still plenty of weeks left before they occur so there is more than enough time to give you a history of them. I asked you here to inform of a serious matter that may or may not pose danger to the people of the Leaf Village as well as yourselves in the future."

"What might this so called dangerous matter be?" Sesshōmaru questioned.

"Almost a week ago when the genin were participating in the second round of the exams an uninvited shinobi decided to interfere. He goes by the name of Orochimaru, and he is from the Village Hidden in the Sound" the Hokage explained.

"Is that not the village that Kagome was told to say away from?" Sesshōmaru questioned.

"Yes," the Hokage replied. "Orochimaru interfered with the exam and attacked one of our genin."

"Why not just cancel the exams then?" Kagome asked.

"Orochimaru warned one of our proctors that the exams must continue or else," the Hokage stated. "I don't know what he exactly he is planning, but we all must take extreme caution from now until the exam's end."

"This Orochimaru is capable of so much risk to your village's safety?" Sesshōmaru asked.

"Yes," the Hokage stated. "He killed three ninja and cursed the genin I mentioned before. I would not doubt he would resort to more acts of violence."

"Believe me when I say that the demons and humans of our village are capable of defending themselves. We will be prepared if a threat is posed against any of us," Sesshōmaru declared.

"That gives me some ease to hear," the Hokage stated.

"Now the genin you mentioned," Sesshōmaru said. "Orochimaru placed a curse on him?"

"Yes," the Hokage said. "He bears a cursed mark on his neck. We attempted to seal it, but it did not work as well as we hoped. The boy, Sasuke Uchiha is alive, but the curse is affecting his body. He's currently being kept watch on at our village hospital."

"If you are looking for further assistance Kagome has a great deal of knowledge on dealing with curses," Sesshōmaru said.

"That I do," Kagome replied looking away.

"If you would like she could take a look at this curse mark," Sesshōmaru offered. "Only if she is willing though."

"Of course I am," Kagome stated. "Having been cursed before I wouldn't want anyone else to have to deal with a curse their whole life. If there's an opportunity to lift a curse from someone I'll take it."

"So you are willing to take a look at this curse mark Lady Kagome?" The Hokage asked.

"Yes," Kagome stated. "Please, take me to Sasuke."

 **Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our readers. Here is the current placing of the love interests. We are still taking votes, the poll is by no means over.**

 **1** **st** **Sesshomaru**

 **2** **nd** **Kakashi**

 **3** **rd** **Itachi**

 **4** **th** **Bankotsu**


	6. Chapter 6

**So here's the newest chapter, LadySongbird16 and I hope that everyone likes it. If anyone has any comments please feel free to leave a review. Hopefully the next update will be soon.**

 **Chapter 6**

Kagome was escorted to the hospital by one of the village's jōnin, Sesshōmaru had chosen to stay behind and discuss some maters with the Hokage. She entered and was almost about to go talk to the receptionist, but then she remembered that she was probably expected since she had just talked to the Hokage. Plus she was told that a special type of shinobi known as ANBU were guarding Sasuke's room. Kagome still had no idea who this Orochimaru was exactly. The Hokage must have been hiding something; most likely a personal matter, but nobody should be forced to share every tragic or regretful detail of their past.

When she got to the door of Sasuke's room she saw Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi standing outside.

"But Kakashi Sensei," Naruto complained. "Why won't they allow visitors?"

"Because Naruto," Kakashi began. "Sasuke still isn't feeling well enough to see anyone."

"Well it's good to see that you're still concerned about your teammate," Kagome said catching everyone's attention.

The three shinobi turned to see Kagome standing before them.

"Kagome," Sakura said. "Naruto was right, you have returned."

"Why would I lie about something like that?" Naruto exclaimed.

"Naruto please," Kakashi said. "I assume you have come here for a reason Kagome."

"Yes," Kagome said. "When Sesshōmaru and I met with the Hokage today he informed me of Sasuke's injuries. As a priestess I have skills as a healer. I figured maybe I could try and help Sasuke recover faster."

"Very well," Kakashi said. "As Sasuke's team leader I don't see any harm. Besides I could get in trouble for disobeying the Hokage."

"Are you sure you can help him Kagome," Sakura questioned anxiously.

"Don't worry Sakura," Kagome said. "I'll help Sasuke."

"Can't we at least go in and watch?" Naruto questioned.

"I really don't see the harm in it," Kagome said. "It's not my decision though."

"Come on Kakashi sensei please?" Naruto begged.

Kakashi let out a frustrated sigh and looked at Naruto and Sakura.

"You two can come in but you both need to be quiet," Kakashi stated. "Kagome doesn't need any distractions."

"Of course Kakashi sensei," Sakura said before giving Naruto a death glare.

"Don't let anyone else in," Kakashi said to the jōnin and the ANBU standing by the door.

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When Kagome entered the room with the three shinobi the first thing she recognized was that Sasuke was still asleep but even in sleep his expression was one of pain. She moved closer to his bed and looked for the mark on his neck. When she found it she reached out to touch it and then pulled her hand away for a few seconds.

"It's definitely a strong curse but nothing I can't deal with," Kagome stated.

"Wait a minute," Naruto suddenly said. "Sasuke was cursed. Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"Naruto, now isn't the time to get worked up," Sakura stated.

"Worked up?" Naruto exclaimed. "You were with him when we got separated in the forest weren't you? You knew about this and didn't tell me?!"

" _Something suspicious is definitely going on around her,"_ Kagome thought.

"Naruto," Kakashi warned. "That's enough. Whether not Sakura knew about this shouldn't be what matters at the moment. Now I suggest you be quiet and let Kagome do her work."

Kagome focused her power onto the mark on Sasuke's neck and within ten seconds it was gone and the pained expression on his face subsided.

"There the curse is gone," Kagome stated.

The three shinobi moved closer to see that the curse mark was indeed gone from Sasuke's neck. Naruto also noticed something strange though.

"Kagome your arm," he said.

Kakashi and Sakura looked to see what Naruto was talking about and both looked to see that mark that was once on Sasuke's neck was now on Kagome's left forearm.

"Why would you transfer the curse to your own body?" Kakashi questioned.

"I could have just used enough of my power to remove the curse and the mark from his body entirely, but it would have blown off a chunk of his neck as a result," Kagome declared.

"Blown off a chunk of his neck?" Sakura questioned nervously. "What about your arm now though?"

"The curse will still affect me, but there's hardly any strong demonic energy emitting from it, so while removing it from my arm might still be painful, it wouldn't affect it the same way because of the sacred power running through me," Kagome stated.

She focused her power on the mark and suddenly it as gone, but her arm was all red, as if it had been burned.

"Unfortunately my arm is all numb now," Kagome stated.

"Are you going to be okay?" Kakashi questioned.

"Don't worry," Kagome said. "I'll get the feeling back in a few minutes."

"Kagome, while you're still here can I ask you something?" Naruto questioned.

"Sure Naruto," Kagome stated.

"One of the other genin we got to know during the exams, Rock Lee," Naruto began. "He got injured pretty badly. Do you think that you can take a look at him and see if there is anything that you can do for him?"

Kagome was quiet for a minute.

"Sure Naruto," Kagome stated.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Five minutes later Kagome was standing outside of Rock Lee's hospital room with Naruto. The nurse let them and left. Lee was sitting on the hospital bed looking out the window.

"Hey Lee," Naruto said.

"Naruto," Lee greeted. "You should be training for the third round of the exams."

"Oh I will don't worry about that," Naruto stated. "I brought a friend who could possibly help you with your injuries. This is Kagome and she's a priestess."

"Hi Lee," Kagome said. "It's nice to meet you."

"It's very nice to meet such a beautiful young woman as yourself Lady Kagome," Lee said.

"Please," Kagome said. "Just call me Kagome. Now can you tell me how you got these injuries?"

"During the preliminaries I used a routine that my sensei told me not to use unless necessary," Lee explained. "It did not affect my opponent as I had hoped it would though."

"He went up against one of the genin from the Village Hidden in the Sand," Naruto stated. "He was practically crushed under an enormous amount of sand."

"That does sound strange," Kagome replied. "Can I take a look at your back Lee?"

Lee only nodded and turned around and unbuttoned his pajama shirt.

Kagome looked at the injury hoping to find some solution. She had a feeling that the sand ninja Naruto was talking about was the Kazukage's son, and she remembered sensing some kind of strong spirit in him. Maybe if she could find a little demonic or spiritual energy inside Lee she could purify it. She found nothing though. Lee's injuries were entirely physical.

"I'm sorry," Kagome said regretfully. "If this injury was demonic even in the smallest sense I would be able to heal it, but this is the result of nothing but brute force. It's out of my reach."

"Are you sure about that Kagome?" Naruto questioned.

"Yes," Kagome replied. "I'm sorry Lee, there's nothing I can do for you."

"It's okay Kagome," Lee said sadly. "Thank you for trying though."

"Hey, but don't lose hope," Kagome stated. "Just because I can't fix this doesn't mean there's not a healer out there that can."

"Right," Lee said with a new found hope. "I'll never give up."

"Anyway," Kagome said. "I think I better get back to my group. I believe I've left Shippō alone long enough. See you all later."

With that Kagome turned around and made her way back toward the demons' camp.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Hey Kagome," Shippō greeted as she entered their room.

"Hi Shippō," Kagome greeted back. "Did you help Kōga keep everyone in line?"

"Yeah," Shippō replied. "It surprisingly wasn't that difficult. Now everyone is either resting or exploring the village. The human merchants are going to set up their booths in the market after lunch."

"Well at least everything is going smoothly so far," Kagome stated. "I swear it's not even lunch time yet and I'm exhausted."

"Where'd you go after you and Sesshōmaru talked to the Hokage?" Shippō questioned.

"I was told that one of the genin was cursed and bore a mark on his neck," Kagome stated. "In fact it was one of Naruto's teammates. So I went to the hospital and removed the curse."

"Is that why your arm is all red?" Shippō questioned.

"Because I put the curse onto my arm and then removed it," Kagome stated. "If I just removed it while it was still on Sasuke I would have blown off a chunk of his neck."

"Okay," Shippō replied. "That would have been bad."

"No kidding," Kagome snarked. "I think I need to rest for a bit."

"Okay," Shippō replied. "After that can we go grab some lunch?"

"Sure," Kagome said.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 _Two Hours Later_

Kagome, Shippō, and Kilala were wandering around the village looking for a place to eat.

"So how was that ramen stand you talked about last time?" Shippo asked.

"Pretty good," Kagome replied. "I think Kilala enjoyed the meat there."

Kilala meowed in response.

"Do you want ramen Shippō?" Kagome asked.

"Not really," Shippō replied.

"Well I know there are places to eat around here that we haven't tried."

As they walked over the bridge and passed by one restaurant they noticed someone familiar.

"Hey Naruto," Kagome said catching the hyper genin's attention.

"Oh, hi Kagome," Naruto greeted. "I guess I just can't stop crossing paths with you today."

"Are you okay?" Kagome asked Naruto.

"Yeah, you sound a little melancholy," Shippō stated.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked Shippō.

"Oh sorry," Kagome replied. "Naruto this is Shippō. He's been with me since before we even came to your world. So I guess you can say he's basically my son."

"What you're son?!" Naruto said in shock.

"Not biologically Naruto," Kagome stated.

"Oh," Naruto replied. "Sorry."

"Now, what's bugging you?" Kagome stated.

"Kakashi sensei won't help me train because he's too busy watching over Sasuke," Naruto stated. "And he's going to wind up training him too. So he stuck me with some closet pervert jōnin who took me to a bath house to train."

"Why'd he take you there?" Shippō questioned.

"He was trying to teach me how to improve my chakra control by having me attempt to walk on the water there," Naruto explained. "But some pervy old sage was trying to peak on the women. So we called him out and he knocked out my trainer."

"Any idea where he is now?" Kagome questioned.

"Nope," Naruto replied.

"You disgusting man," a feminine voice suddenly shouted.

Suddenly a kunochi in a purple dress walked out of the restaurant with an angry expression on her face.

"Please," an old man with crazy white hair said following after her. "You just have such soft and smooth…hands. I just wanted to know how you keep them that way."

"You dirty old man," the kunochi said slapping the elderly man across the face.

"So much for soft hands," he said.

"Oh my God," Kagome said. "He's like an older version of Miroku, minus the ass grabbing."

"Who?" Naruto questioned.

"A friend of mine from our dimension," Kagome stated. "Every time he met a woman he would touch their butts and then asked them to bear his child. The first time he touched my but, I told Inuyasha to kill him."

"She did," Shippō added. "He didn't though; and we all ended up being great friends."

"Weird," Naruto replied. "And this guy is totally embarrassing."

"You again," the white haired old man said looking at Naruto. "What do you want little brat?  
"I'm surprised that they don't keep you on a leash," Naruto said. "You clearly have no intentions but to cause trouble you pervy sage."

"Stop calling me that," the old man said. "I told you I have a name, it's Jiraya."

"Hey, is that a way to talk to a kid?" Kagome said looking at Jiraya.

Jiraya took one look at Kagome and dashed over to her.

"My goodness my dear," Jiraya began "you're such a beautiful young woman."

"Thank you?" Kagome said skeptically.

"Do you mind if I study your form?" Jiraya asked. "I am a novelist and many of my characters are female."

"As flattering as the compliment before was I'm going to have to say no," Kagome declared. "And unless you want another slap to the face or something worse. I ask that you refrain from asking me that question or any further similar ones."

"Hey what about me?" Naruto stated. "You took out my trainer old man, so now I demand you train me, you owe me that!"

"You want to do some training?" Jiraya said picking up Naruto.

"Here you can train in here for a while," he stated picking Naruto up dropping him into a large pot, putting the lid on, and covering it with a rock.

Then he walked away laughing.

"Why would he do that when he knew there were witnesses?" Shippō questioned. "That was just stupid."

"Agreed," Kagome said.

Then she went over to the clay pot and let Naruto out.

"Are you okay?" She asked him.

"Yeah," Naruto said. "Seriously who does that guy think he is to try and do that to me. I'm going to give him a peace of my mind."

Before Kagome could say anything Naruto sped off.

"Should we follow him?" Shippō asked.

"Naruto might be a shinobi," Kagome said. "But I have a feeling he's about to get into some kind of trouble. So yes."

With that said Kagome, Shippō, and Kilala went off in the direction Naruto had just went.


	7. Chapter 7

**LadySongbird16 and I hope you all enjoy this newest chapter. If you want to see the pairing rankings be sure to check the end of the chapter.**

 **Chapter 7**

Kagome, Shippō, and Kilala followed Naruto who sped right after the white-haired sage and they ended up somewhere in the forest near a waterfall. The Pervy Sage, as Naruto had called him, and Naruto were sitting and talking; it looked like they were actually being civil, a complete difference from what they had seen only moments ago.

"Okay," Jiraya said. "I'll admit you're not totally without talent."

"So does that mean you'll help me with my training?" Naruto questioned.

"Not so fast squirt," Jiraya said. "It's a question of quid pro quo. I'll give you what you want but in return you have to try and give me what I want."

"So what do you want?" Naruto questioned.

"You must know by now," Jiraya said standing up. "I like them ripe and luscious with curves like that see; and big but not too big; you know what I mean? If you bring me something like that I'll train you until the cows come home."

"You will, no lie?" Naruto questioned enthusiastically.

"The Toad Mountain Sage never lies," Jiraya stated.

"You got it wait here," Naruto said speeding off.

"Man," Shippō began. "he used hand gestures and everything. He's definitely worse than Miroku."

Of course when he said this it caught Jiraya's attention and he looked right at them.

"Oh hello again miss," Jiraya stated. "Might I ask what brings you all the way out here."

"Following Naruto," Kagome stated. "What are you thinking trying to trap the kid with witnesses around?"

"Too be fair the squirt was the one causing a scene in the first place," Jiraya stated.

"Seriously that doesn't give you the right to put him a vase and leave him there," Kagome stated.

"Okay if it makes you feel any better I won't do it again," Jiraya said. "Now tell me my dear, where did you come from?"

"Well," Kagome began "It looks like you've been around for quite some time and you've been traveling. I'm sure you've heard of a village that consists of mostly demons? That's where I'm from."

"Yes," Jiraya stated. "I did hear mention of your village and I passed a booth in the market. So you are one of the humans that resides in the village?"  
"Yes," Kagome replied. "I'm also the one of the Councilors."

"You are?" Jiraya asked. "You look so young though."

"Actually," Kagome began. "My name is Kagome, I'm a priestess and this may be hard to comprehend but I'm over 300 years old."

"What?!" Jiraya said in shock.

"Everyone you tell that to reacts like that," Shippō stated.

"Well I can understand why it's so hard to believe," Kagome replied. "I only look in my mid-20s."

"Hey what are you doing?" Shippō suddenly shouted.

Kagome looked to see Jiraya was very close to her and he was ogling her chest.

Her instincts kicked in and he she slapped him right in the face.

Jiraya stepped back and rubbed his face.

"I'm sorry," Kagome stated. "You were just way too close."

"I guess I deserved that," Jiraya stated.

"Hey Pervy Sage," a familiar voice said.

Coming toward them was Naruto holding a giant watermelon.

"I found what you wanted," Naruto stated. "Big, ripe, luscious, and curvy."

"You idiot," Jiraya yelled. "That's not what I wanted."

Jiraya took out a sword and cut up the whole melon.

"We might as well not let this go to waste though," Jiraya stated.

A few minutes later they were all sitting down and eating slices of the water melon.

"So," Jiraya said looking at Shippō. "What is your name boy?"

"My name is Shippō," Shippō said. "I'm a fox demon."

"He's my son basically," Kagome stated.

Naruto and Jiraya spit out their food in shock.

"What your son?" Jiraya questioned.

"Not biologically," Kagome stated. "We met back in the feudal era. His parents were killed, we helped him avenge their death, and he's been with me since."

"Well, this has been interesting, but I must be going," Jiraya stated.

"Wait hey what about my training!" Naruto yelled. "We had a deal."

"You didn't fulfill your end of the bargain," Jiraya stated. "I wanted a lady."

"A lady?" Naruto asked. "That what you wanted? I can get you that."

Naruto stepped in front of Jiraya and made a hand signal.

"Transform," he said.

Suddenly there was a cloud of smoke and once it cleared a tall skinny naked woman with long blonde pigtails and the same facial markings as Naruto was standing in front of Jiraya. Jiraya was just staring like a crazy pervert with his jaw dropped. Kagome shrieked and quickly covered Shippō's eyes.

"Oh yeah," Jiraya said. "She's perfect. How did you do that kid?"  
"Oh, this is easy," Naruto's feminine voice said. "I call it my sexy jutsu."

"That is genius kid," Jiraya stated.

"So does this mean you'll train me?" Naruto asked.

"Of course," Jiraya said. "On one condition."

"A condition?" Naruto questioned. "What would that be?"

"That you stay like that the whole time," Jiraya stated.

Naruto turned back to normal and looked at Jiraya annoyed.

"I knew it you're just a little pervert," Naruto declared.

"What no I'm not," Jiraya shouted.

"Then what are you?" Naruto questioned.

"I'm a big pervert," Jiraya said with a smile.

"Okay, this guy is way worse than Miroku," Shippō stated.

"Shippō," Kagome warned. "Well, I guess I can trust that you're really gonna train Naruto?"  
"Of course my dear," Jiraya said. "Besides, I wouldn't think about lying to a priestess, you're probably capable of things that I would never imagine doing,"

"You're definitely right about that," Shippō said.

With that said she, Shippō, and Kilala left.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The next day Kagome was out in the forest training with her sword. She was wearing a red tank top, blue Capri pants, and black shinobi sandals.

Shippō was watching her train.

"You know you didn't have to come back here and watch me Shippō," Kagome stated.

"Well I wasn't going to go watch Naruto train with that Pervy Sage," Shippō snarked. "I'm actually surprised that you haven't decided to go check on them."

"It's not like the man is going to kill Naruto," Kagome stated. "Besides, given that he's basically like an older version of Miroku. He probably took Naruto to a place, where he can spy on girls at the same time, and that would just be uncomfortable to watch."

"Good point," Shippō replied.

"Kagome," a familiar voice said catching her attention.

Standing not too far from her and Shippō was Sesshōmaru.

"Hello Sesshōmaru," Kagome greeted. "What bring you here?"

"The Hokage wishes to speak to us," Sesshōmaru stated.

"Why did you come and to tell me that instead of letting one of the jōnin do it?" Kagome questioned.

"Let's just go," Sesshōmaru said before turning back in the direction he came.

"Wait, what about Shippō and Kilala?" Kagome questioned.

"Don't worry Kagome," Shippō said. "Kilala and I will head back to the compound. Can we grab some dinner once you're finished talking to the Hokage?"

"Sure," Kagome said before running off in the direction Sesshōmaru had come from.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Kagome and Sesshōmaru entered the Hokage's office and found Kōga was already there.

"Kōga," Kagome said in surprise. "You're here too?"

"I have asked to speak to all three of you as this is a matter of great importance to you and your villagers," the Hokage stated.

"What exactly happened Lord Hokage?" Kōga questioned.

"One of our jōnin was found dead on a rooftop early this morning," the Hokage stated seriously. "Hayate Gekkō, he was the proctor for the preliminary round of the Chūnin Exams."

"Do you believe that this the work of Orochimaru Lord Hokage?" Kagome found herself questioning.

"While I do not believe that he was the one who killed Hayate," the Hokage began. "Yes Lady Kagome, I believe he is behind all of this."

"So you have sent us here just to warn us?" Sesshōmaru questioned.

"Yes," the Hokage stated. "I believed that you would wish to know this and to warn your people to be careful. I also think you should know that we will be stationing our ANBU shinobi around the perimeter of the village so you and your people will know what they look like if you should spot them."

"Could you tell us what the ANBU look like so we know what to look out for?" Kōga questioned.

"Yes, they wear white sleeveless vests and masks that have the faces of various animals," the Hokage stated.

"And they are well-trained?" Sesshōmaru questioned.

"Yes Lord Sesshōmaru," the Hokage replied. "Besides myself they are among the strongest shinobi in the Hidden Leaf Village."

"Thank you for sharing all of this Lord Hokage," Kagome said.

"Don't you worry about us," Kōga added. "We'll make sure our people are aware and well protected."

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Kagome, Shippō, and Kilala were walking through the streets of the village. They decided to go to the ramen shop for dinner.

"So one of the shinobi was actually killed?" Shippō asked.

"Yes," Kagome replied. "I can't believe it. How could someone have gotten in and gotten past all the jōnin? Unless someone from the inside did it. All of these villages have a peace treaty just like the one we're trying to establish with the shinobi though. Who would dare think about breaking it?"

"What a waste of a perfectly good rose," a feminine voice heading toward the group said.

"Yeah what a waste," a familiar feminine voice declared.

Kagome looked up to see Sakura walking and holding a daffodil in her hand, she was with a girl who had short blonde hair pulled into a bun, with a long side bang almost covering her right eye.

"Sakura?" Kagome said catching the girl's attention.

"Oh hey Kagome," Sakura said noticing the priestess.

"What's up with the flowers?" Kagome questioned.

"Ino and I were going to the hospital to visit Sasuke," Sakura stated. "Only Sasuke has disappeared, and no one can find him."

"He's gone?" Kagome asked in shock.

"He left without thanking you," Shippō said looking at Kagome.

"I don't think there's too much to worry about," Kagome stated. "With the curse mark gone his recovery should have been a bit faster."

"Wait, so you're the one who healed Sasuke?" Ino questioned.

"I see word gets around," Shippō stated.

"Yes she is," Sakura stated. "Ino this is Kagome, she's a priestess and one of the Councilors of the Demon Village that was invited to observe the Chūnin Exams. Kagome this is Ino Yamanaka, she's one of the genin of the Rookie Nine like me and her family owns the flower shop in the village."

"Pleased to meet you," Kagome said to Ino. "Speaking of the hospital though, did you two happen to see Rock Lee?"

Sakura and Ino looked down in sadness for a second before Ino spoke.

"Yeah," she said. "He was out of his room and physically exerting himself though. He just can't deal with the fact that his injuries have ended his days as a shinobi."

"I can understand why he's so upset," Kagome stated. "I wish there was something that I could have done to help him."  
"Maybe we should go and visit him sometimes?" Shippō suggested.

"Sure, I guess he could use some more visitors," Kagome stated.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 _Three Weeks Later_

Kagome couldn't believe that it had been three weeks since already since she met Jiraya and Sasuke disappeared. She still didn't really have any idea where exactly he went; she had heard that no one had seen Kakashi in quite some time either, so it probably wasn't wrong to assume that Sasuke was off somewhere training with Kakashi. It would seem strange if he wasn't being trained, after all, the third round of the Chūnin Exams was tomorrow. Other than training with her bow and her sword, and hanging out with, Naruto, Shippō, or Kōga, she had been visiting Lee at the hospital to see how he was holding up. Although his injuries were no better it was nice to know that Lee still had hope. She even met the jōnin who led his team, Might Guy, whom, Lee bared a strange resemblance to. Talk about looking up to someone.

Anyway today she was heading to the hospital to see Lee and Naruto. She had run into Iruka last night and was told that Naruto was in the hospital. Thankfully it was nothing serious though, apparently he had used too much chakra and needed to rest and recover. The strangest thing about it though was that he had just been found collapsed outside in the hospital with a giant amphibian-like foot print was next to him.

"I wonder what kind of trouble Jiraya got him into?" Kagome said to herself.

When she entered the hospital lobby she was surprised to see that there was no one there.

She looked at a small sign on the desk.

"Out to lunch?" she said. "They wouldn't find someone else to manage the front desk. This is just strange."

So she wrote her name on the visitor form and headed in the direction of Lee's room.

The closer she got though she felt something strange.

"This aura," she said to herself. "It feels like that of the spirit inside Naruto, but there's another; and it feels angry!"

Kagome sprinted toward Lee's room. When she opened the door she saw Naruto completely frozen with fear and another young genin with spiky black hair in a high ponytail who looked as if he was staring at a demon, and the one of the sand ninja; it was Gaara, the Kazukage's son, and he was using some sort of sand technique, and he was directing it toward Lee!

"Leave him alone!" Kagome yelled at him.

He turned his gaze toward Kagome and suddenly he was clutching at his temples and screaming in pain.

Suddenly the door opened and Kagome noticed Lee' s mentor, Might Guy, standing in the doorway. "Alright," he said seriously. "That's enough."

He looked at Gaara.

"You, leave now," he said.

Gaara walked toward the door, but paused and turned to look at Naruto.

"This isn't over," he said before exiting.

"Shikamaru," the jōnin said looking at the spiky haired genin. "I need to ask you to leave."

Shikamaru regained control of himself and let out a sigh before placing his hands in his pocket and exiting the room.

"Naruto," Kagome said walking over to the still frightened blonde ninja and placing his hand on his shoulder.

"He's…" Naruto said in disbelief. "So different from me, but so similar to me."

" _Does he know that Gaara possesses a spirit in him as well?"_ Kagome thought.

"You should probably get him back to his room Lady Kagome," Guy stated.

"Yes," Kagome said. "Come on Naruto."

She led the still shocked ninja back to his room.

"Naruto," Kagome began. "You don't have to tell me now, I'm gonna need to know eventually what happened, okay?"

Naruto nodded.

"Naruto there you are," a familiar voice said. "Kagome what are you doing here?"

"I'll tell you in a minute Sakura," Kagome stated. "Come on, let's go back to Naruto's room."

"Okay," Sakura said hesitantly before following her teammate and Kagome.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo **Pairing Rankings**

1st: Sesshomaru

2nd: Kakashi

3rd: Itachi

4th: Bankotsu

 **The poll is not over yet, so if you haven't voted already feel free to vote in a review or in a PM to either me or LadySongbird16.**


	8. Chapter 8

**We finally made it to the third round of the exams! LadySonbbrid16 and I have been getting PMs and reviews about people looking forward to this, so we hope that you all enjoy it. Feel free to review or PM either one of us with feedback or ideas both are very welcome.**

 **Chapter 8**

The next day was the day of the of final round of the chūnin exams and all of the demons of course were invited to attend. Kagome, Kōga, and Shippō were going to be sitting in the stands with the all of the other spectators while Sesshomaru decided to sit with the Kages; Kagome felt it unnecessary to sit with the Hokage anyway, she didn't want to be made a big deal of even if she was a councilor from their village. Besides somebody had to make sure their citizens behaved appropriately, both humans and demons. Anyway, she, Shippō, and Kilala were walking through the woods toward the arena.

"Well this should be an interesting day," Kagome stated.

"You think we can get through a day without something drastic happening for once?" Shippō questioned.

"Well," Kagome began. "Violence is a given since genin are going to be fighting each other for other's entertainment and to be promoted. Plus, knowing what's happened lately, something big is bound to happen sooner or later."

"I almost forgot what a dangerous situation is like since we've lived in this dimension," Shippō stated. "We've been living peacefully for so long now; it's a good thing we didn't forget how to fight."

"Well it's basically like second nature to us at this point I'd think," Kagome stated.

"I don't disagree with that," Shippō stated. "Hey Kagome, couldn't' we just fly on Kilala? We haven't done that in forever."

"As much as I'd like that," Kagome began. "I know it might cause a scene somewhere, not a lot of people have seen her in her giant cat form, so it's best not to let a lot of people see her like that just yet."

"Point taken," Shippō stated. "Hey look who it is."

Kagome looked to see Naruto talking to a girl, probably the same age as him, with short black hair, and very light eyes.

Once they saw Naruto begin to walk away. Kagome sped up to catch up with Naruto and Shippō and Kilala followed after her.

"Hey Naruto," Kagome said catching his attention.

Naruto turned to see the immortal priestess, her "son" and Kilala jogging toward him.

"Hey Kagome," Naruto greeted.

"Why aren't you already at the chūnin exams?" Kagome questioned. "You're gonna be late."

"I know," Naruto said. "I was heading there right now."

"Who's that girl you were talking to?" Shippō asked.

"That was Hinata Hyuga," Naruto replied. "She's one of the Rookie Nine like me. I'm supposed to fight her cousin Neji today in the third round of the exams."

"I think I heard Might Guy mention him," Kagome stated. "Is he on the same team as Lee?"

"Yeah," Naruto said. "Only there's more to it though."

"How so?" Kagome questioned.

"During the preliminary round he went up against Hinata," Naruto began. "To say that he simply hurt her would be an understatement; he nearly killed her, and all he could do about that is call her a failure."

"That's horrible," Kagome said in shock.

"Plus, even though I didn't say it to her directly," Naruto began. "I promised that I would beat him for her."

"I happen to think that's really sweet," Kagome said.

"Naruto," Shippō began. "Not that we're not happy to be talking to you, but shouldn't you really be getting to the arena?"

Kagome and Naruto looked up in the sky to see what Shippō was talking about, and saw there were fireworks going off to signal the third round was beginning soon.

"Oh no!" Naruto exclaimed. "I'm really late now I need to get there now. See you guys later!"

With that said Naruto sped off before Kagome or Shippō even had time to give a response.

"Wow, he's fast when he's in a hurry," Shippō said.

"Yeah," Kagome replied. "Come on, let's go before we miss the first match."

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

When Kagome, Shippō, and Kilala finally reached the arena they noticed a shinobi standing by the spectator's entrance. She had black hair with a violet tint styled up in a spikey fanned-ponytail, and light brown eyes. She was wearing a mesh bodysuit that went down to her mid-thighs, a tan overcoat with a purple inseam, a dark orange mini-skirt, a dark blue belt, and pale grey shin guards over a pair of typical blue shinobi sandals. Her shinobi headband showed that she was from the Hidden Leaf Village. She looked like she was waiting for someone, and as she approached Kagome, she came to the conclusion that this shinobi wanted something from her.

"Hello?" Kagome greeted. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Are you Lady Kagome?" The kunochi asked. "The priestess from the Demon Village?"

"I am," Kagome replied. "Why do you ask?"

"My name is Anko Mitarashi," the kunochi said. "I understand that you removed Sasuke Uchia's cursed mark not too long ago."

"Yes," Kagome said.

"I'll get to the point then," Anko stated. "Orochimaru gave me a cursed mark a long time ago."

Anko moved the collar of her overcoat to show the same mark that once inhabited Sasuke's neck.

"I was hoping you could get rid of this for me." Anko said. "It's been here for quite a long time."

"I would be more than happy to help you get rid of it," Kagome stated. "I think that it would be safer for both of us to do it later though, since it will cause both of us some pain. Look for me after the matches are finished and I will get rid of it. You have my word Anko."

"You promise?" Anko said.

"Yes," Kagome said. "I never go back on my word."

"Alright," Anko said. "Thank you Lady Kagome."

"You're welcome," Kagome said. "But please, it's just Kagome."

With that done Kagome, Shippō and Kilala headed up in the stands.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

When Kagome, Shippō, and Kilala got into the stands they found Kōga already waiting for them at the top.

"I was starting to wonder if you had gotten lost," he said.

"No," Kagome said. "We just ran into a friend on the way."

"Have we missed anything?" Shippō asked.

"No," Kōga replied. "It looks like they're still waiting for someone."

"I guess Naruto hasn't showed up yet then," Kagome stated.

"That's kinda odd considering he sped ahead of us so quickly," Shippō declared.

Suddenly they saw something happening on the battle field. They watched as Naruto came speeding right in and fell right into Shikamaru.

"Well," Shippō began. "Now we know where he is."

"He's so late though," Kōga stated.

"One of them is still missing," Kagome pointed out. "Where's Sasuke?"

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 _Up in the Hokage's Section_

Sesshōmaru was sitting up top with the Hokage. He heard one of the jōnin talking to the Hokage about Sasuke

"I certainly hope that you enjoy our exams Lord Sesshōmaru," the Hokage stated.

"I'm sure the battles will be interesting," Sesshōmaru replied.

"Ah," the Hokage said. "I see you've made it, welcome Lord Kazekage."

Sesshōmaru looked to see a much younger looking man, wearing robes similar to the Hokage, only instead of red they contained blue, and he had a white piece of cloth covering the lower half of his face. Sesshōmaru remembered Kagome saying that there was something strange about the Kazekage, and his scent seemed off too.

"I would like to introduce you to Lord Sesshōmaru," Lord Hokage said to the Kazekage. "He is part of the council of the Demon Village. I believe you remember them from your previous meeting with Lady Kagome when she discussed their peace treaty."

"It's a pleasure," the Kazekage said with a creepy undertone in his voice.

"Likewise," Sesshōmaru said coolly.

"You must be weary from your travels Lord Kazekage," the Hokage said. "It must have been quite a journey from the Hidden Sand Village."

"Not at all," the Kazekage said. "I must say that for your own sake it is a good thing that the arena is here in the Leaf Village. As strong as you are I'm sure a long journey would have proven difficult for you, at your age. Isn't it about time you decided who succeeded you as Hokage?"

The Hokage began laughing at this statement.

"You act as if I'm an old man," he said. "There's plenty of life left in me."

The Hokage stood up and moved toward the railing of the balcony.

"No I plan on staying here for some time to come," he continued. "Now then, it's time for the final rounds to begin. Welcome all, and our deepest thanks for coming here to the Village Hidden in the Leaves for this year's chūnin selection. We have come to the final competition between the eight candidates who made it through the preliminaries. We ask that no one leaves until all the matches have been completed. Now everyone enjoy."

"You said eight candidates," the Kazekage confirmed. "Aren't you missing someone?"

"I happened to have noticed that as well," Sesshōmaru stated.

The Hokage looked unsure of what to say.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 _Back in the stands_

Kagome, Shippō, and Kōga sat in the stands waiting for the first match to start, five of the genin began to leave, probably to go to a waiting area. To Kagome's surprise Naruto was the first one up, and he was facing who she was guessing was Neji Hyuga, Hinata's cousin.

As the proctor announced the start of the match the crowd began to cheer.

"I really hope Naruto has a chance against this kid," Kagome said.

"I heard a few shinobi over there talking," Kōga said. "They said that there surprised the little runt has made it this far, but that he doesn't stand a chance against this Neji kid."

For a while all they did was just stare at each other until Naruto charged at Neji, but Neji moved swiftly dodging every hit that Naruto threw at him. Naruto tried using his Shadow clone jutsu to attack but every time Naruto or one of his clones got close enough Neji dodge the attacks and managed to hit Naruto with incredible speed.

"This Neji kid moves so quickly," Shippō said. "I didn't know any humans can fight with this much swiftness."

"These are shinobi though," Kōga declared.

"I never would have expected a genin to be this strong though," Kagome added.

The same pattern in the battle went on for some time until Neji hit Naruto several times with immense speed. Naruto fell back several feet and it looked like for a long time that he wasn't getting up.

"Oh no Naruto," Kagome stated.

"What happened to him?" Shippō asked.

"The Hyuga kid said that he hit all 64 of his chakra points," Kōga replied.

"All 64?" Kagome asked. "That's definitely not good."

"Kagome look," Shippō then said.

All three of them watched as Naruto rose to his feet.

"Oh thank God he's getting up," Kagome said.

For a long time though neither Naruto or Neji moved to strike each other. It looked like all they were doing was talking.

Then Neji removed his head band and on the very center of his forehead was a green X.

"Kōga," Kagome began. "What is he saying?"

"He said that he was branded with that mark when he was four years old," Kōga declared. "By the head of the main household of his clan, his uncle. He's looking right at that man over there with long dark brown hair. He has the same eyes as him."

Kagome looked in the direction Kōga was indicating toward.

"That must be Hinata's father," Shippō stated.

"He's still going on though," Kōga said. "Said that it goes back a long way, his father and is uncle are twins, but his uncle was born first, which is why his family is a side branch family. When he was four is father was murdered when his twin broke the rules of a peace treaty, and killed a shinobi who attempted to kidnap Hinata. Yet, he's stuck with that mark, and it was his destiny to protect the secret of the family's kekki genkai, the Byakugan. Whatever that means."

"I heard Sesshōmaru bring that up once," Kagome said. "When he came back from a meeting with the Hokage. It's a bloodline trait, a special kind of jutsu only members of a specific clan can carry, and is passed down to each generation of that clan. So only members of that specific clan can use it."

"Whatever the Byakugan is," Shippō said. "It's definitely giving Neji the advantage in this match."

"That doesn't give him the right," Kagome began. "Yes, his father didn't deserve to die, and yes, he deserved so much more as a child than the treatment he was given because of his status in his family and clan, but his job was to protect Hinata, and he ignored that by trying to kill her. Hinata was probably suffering as much as he was; she was probably even trying to win his respect because she didn't want all that tension between her and her own cousin. So no matter what happened to him, it doesn't excuse the fact that he's been nothing but an asshole."

"Naruto is getting up again," Shippō stated.

"How can he fight Neji if he has no chakra left though?" Kōga questioned. "Wait, what is that bright orange glow?"  
Kagome looked to see what Kōga was talking about. There was indeed a bright orange glow surrounding Naruto's body.

"The fox spirit inside of him," Kagome said barely above a whisper. "Somehow he's managed to take control of its chakra."

Naruto and Neji continued to go on with the fight and suddenly both genin were out of sight. Kagome noticed to rather large holes on the battle ground, and Neji was climbing out of one of them.

"It looks like Naruto's down for the count," Shippō said observing Naruto's unconscious body not too far from where Neji was standing.

"Wait look," Kōga said.

Suddenly a fist popped out of the ground right below Neji and he was being punched square in the jaw. He flew backwards landing hard on the ground, conscious, but unmoving.

After what seemed like several more minutes of silence the proctor finally spoke.

"The winner of this match is Naruto Uzamaki," he announced.

Everyone in the crowd began to cheer, including Kagome, Shippō, and Kōga.

"Naruto actually did it!" Shippō exclaimed.

"Well, he did make Hinata a promise," Kagome said. "And when you make someone a promise, you should keep it."

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 _Meanwhile up on the Hokage's Balcony_

" _Well it looks like Kagome was right about that boy,"_ Sesshōmaru thought. _"A strong sort of animal spirit does live within that boy. It is powerful, but not enough to be demonic. Still the power it gave the boy to win the match was indeed interesting."_

"Well, this crowd is certainly energized," the Kazekage commented.

"That's because it was a terrific fight," the Hokage replied.

"It's that too," the Kazekage said. "But…it's also anticipation. It's likely that the shinobi clan leaders, feudal lords, and other spectators, are looking forward to this next match more than anything. By the way, the Uchiha wasn't at the opening ceremony. He has arrived already hasn't he?"

Sesshōmaru noticed the uncertain expression on the Hokage's face.

"There's been no word about Sasuke yet," the jōnin bodyguard whispered to the Hokage. "And there's the issue of Orochimaru. Please before everyone starts to make trouble, disqualify Sasuke."

Sesshōmaru of course heard everything, and he watched and listened as the crowd was indeed getting impatient.

"I have no choice," the Hokage said. "Sasuke is disqualified."

"Sasuke Uchiha is disqualified?" The Kazekage asked.

"Yes," the Hokage replied. "I'm afraid that this has to be done."

"Lord Hokage," the Kazekage began. "I ask you to consider waiting a little longer before disqualifying Sasuke Uchiha."

"I understand your point," the jōnin bodyguard stated. "But no matter how excellent a shinobi he may be. He's late, and we can't make special allowances. If there's no clear reason to make all shinobi leaders and feudal lords wait, then there's no reason not to disqualify him immediately."

"I see," the Kazekage replied. "Then it's good I do have a clear reason."

"And tell us Lord Kazekage," Sesshōmaru began. "What would that reason be?"

"Including myself," the Kazekage began. "Most of the shinobi leaders and feudal lords here came simply because they want to see the next match."

"Yes but still," the jōnin said.

"He's the only remaining member of the Uchiha clan," the Kazekage confirmed. "And I know that the Land of Wind especially is hoping for a battle between Sasuke and our Gaara."

The Hokage looked thoughtful for a few moments before raising his head.

"Very well then," he began. "We will make an exception. We shall postpone the next match and wait."

"But Lord Hokage," the jōnin said. "I must protest."

"Inform the proctor right away," the Hokage commanded. "However, it's most unusual for you to insist so strongly Lord Kazekage."

"To display the full strength of our village as ninja no opponent but an Uchiha will do," the Kazekage declared. "This is a big chance for Sasuke yes, but a big opportunity for us as well."

" _All of this trouble just to fight one shinobi?"_ Sesshōmaru thought. _"There's definitely something strange about this Kazekage."_

"Does something trouble you Lord Sesshōmaru?" the Hokage questioned.

"Something smells very off," Sesshōmaru simply stated.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 _Back in the stands_

Kagome listened as they said that they were temporarily postponing the match because one of the competitors was not there.

"I'm guessing the next opponent would be Sasuke," Kagome stated. "I haven't seen him here at all."

"Do you think it's possible he still hasn't come back from wherever he ran off to almost a month ago?" Shippō questioned.

"I could be possible," Kagome replied. "Kakashi hasn't been seen anywhere since Sasuke disappeared either though."

The proctor announced the next match, but one of the competitors announced their withdrawal and asked that they move onto the next match.

"Due to Kankuro's withdrawal," the proctor began. "Shino Aburame wins by default."

People in the audience began to boo and hiss at this announcement.

Suddenly a girl with blonde hair in four ponytails, and blue eyes, wearing in a light purple dress flew down onto the battle field, and she was riding a giant fan.

"Wow," Shippō began. "That fan would definitely put Kagura's fan to shame."

"I'll say," Kōga added. "Look at the size of that thing."

"Well it looks like it's Shikamaru turn," Kagome said.

"Isn't that the genin that you found in the hospital with Naruto yesterday Kagome?" Shippō asked.

"Yeah," Kagome replied. "He doesn't seem too motivated."

"That doesn't mean that these people need to throw food at the poor kid though," Kōga stated. "It looks like he's getting up though."

They watched as Shikamaru threw a kunai at the girl, whose name they heard as Temari.

She jumped back several feet dodging his attack, and drew out her fan sending a strong gust of wind not only at Shikamaru, but into the stands as well.

"Talk about some strong wind," Shippō said.

"And all he's doing is hiding in the shadows," Kōga said.

"Or maybe he's trying to come up with a strategy," Kagome said. "That would make him look a lot better than just hiding."

"I think you're right actually," Kōga said. "It look like he's using some kind of shadow technique."

"He can't reach her though," Shippō stated. "She marking where the shadows limit is."

"And he's retreating again," Kōga said.

After a few more minutes of nothing happening Kagome noticed something falling right toward Temari.

"Hey look," she said.

"Is that his jacket?" Shippō asked.

"So he's creating more shadows to increase the range of his jutsu," Kōga stated.

"And now she's hiding," Shippō observed. "

"Yeah, but from what I've seen she's a strategist just like him," Kōga replied. "She could be thinking of a counterattack right now."

"I don't think that's going to happen though," Kagome said still observing the match.

"He finally got her," Shippō said.

Shikamaru's shadow had caught Temari and he was now stepping toward him. Everyone waited to see what Shikamaru would do next, but to everyone's surprise and dismay he forfeited the match.

"He had her and he quit," Shippō stated. "Just like that?"

"I heard him say that it was because he used so much chakra using that one jutsu," Kōga declared.

"Well," Kagome began. "The crowd doesn't seem to be taking it well. That and they're probably just overly anxious to see the next match."

"Isn't Sasuke supposed to be fighting in the next match though?" Shippō questioned. "I still haven't seen him anywhere."

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 _On the Hokage's Balcony_

"There's still no sign of Sasuke Uchiha Lord Hokage," the jōnin bodyguard declared. "He's nowhere in the arena."

"Very well," the Hokage said. "I'm afraid me must proceed then. We've kept these good people waiting long enough."

"Ten more minutes," the Kazekage interjected. "Surely we can give him ten minutes. This is what the crowd's been waiting for it would be a cruel thing to cancel. Surely after waiting this long, another ten minutes won't hurt."

" _Why does this man want to stall so much for one simple match to happen?"_ Sesshōmaru thought.

"There's something in Lord Kazekage says I must admit is true," the Hokage declared. "Very well then, we'll give Sasuke another ten minutes to appear before cancelling the match.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Seriously," Kagome said. "Where could Sasuke be? This crowd might start a riot soon."

"Miss Kagome," a voice called.

Kagome looked over to see Might Guy and Lee coming into the stands.

"Hello Lee and Guy," Kagome said. "I'm glad to see you two can make it. How are you feeling Lee?"

"Much better as of lately," Lee said. "Thank you for asking."

"So I heard Neji got defeated," Guy stated.

"Yeah," Kōga replied. "It was really intense."

"Oh right," Kagome said realizing they had never met Koga. "Rock Lee, Might Guy, this is Kōga, he's leader of the wolf demon tribe and one of the village councilors like me."

"So you must know Lady Kagome for quite some time now," Guy said.

"I sure have," Kōga said. "Kagome's my woman."

"Kōga," Kagome said sternly. "You're married to Ayame."

"Well," Kōga began. "She's not here and what can I say? Old habits die hard."

"She's still your wife," Kagome said.

"Not to interrupt," Shippō began. "But looked who finally decided to show up."

Kagome and the others looked down at the battlefield to see Kakashi and Sasuke both standing there back to back. Sasuke was dressed differently, wearing a black shirt with the Uchiha symbol on the back, black shorts, black shinobi sandals, and tan arm bands.

"They finally decided to grace us with their presence," Shippō declared.

"You don't know Kakashi very well little fox," Guy declared. "Punctuality has never really been his thing."

"Well let's hope that he's not disqualified," Kagome said.

"Considering how long they've already kept everyone waiting," Kōga said. "I think he'll be fine."

Everyone watched and listened as the proctor declared that the match would indeed go on as planned.

They watched as Kakashi left and the sand shinobi Gaara entered.

When Kakashi finally made it into the stands he walked right over to where Kagome, Shippō, and Kōga were.

"Kagome," he said. "It's good to see you again."

Kagome gave Kakashi an irritated look before slapping him right across the face.

"Kagome you've been doing that a lot lately," Shippō stated.

"What was that for?" Kakashi asked rubbing his clothed cheek.

"For disappearing like that and worrying your two other pupils," Kagome said. "Also for showing up last minute and missing Naruto's match with Neji."

"Okay," Kakashi replied. "I suppose I deserve that."

"Kakashi," Guy said catching the Copycat Ninja's attention.

"Hello Guy, Lee," he greeted the other shinobi. "How are you feeling?"

Kakashi moved down the aisle to go talk to Sakura.

"Hey," Kōga said. "It looks like the match is finally going to start."

The match did indeed start and after both shinobi just stood there Sasuke made the first move lunging right toward Gaara.

He did manage to hit Gaara; but Gaara began laughing very sinisterly and sand began rising from his sand gourd.

"The spirit inside of him," Kagome said. "It's very angry."

It seemed that Gaara calmed down, well for the crazy psychotic little teenager he came off as, and Sasuke moved at him with incredible speed.

He managed to break through parts of Gaara's sand shields and hit him several times.

"He moves with incredible speed," Kōga stated.

Suddenly though Gaara summoned a vast amount of sand and it formed a shield around him.

Sasuke tried several times to try and penetrate the shield but it looked to dense, not to mention from inside Gaara was controlling the shield to still attack Sasuke.

"He's starting to bleed," Kōga said.

"Punching and kicking isn't going be enough to penetrate the shield," Kagome stated.

"Kakashi sensei," a familiar voice yelled.

Kagome turned to see Shikamaru and Naruto standing at the top of the stairs panting for air.

"Kakashi sensei," Naruto said. "You need to stop the match. This guy, he's far from normal. He just doesn't want to fight Sasuke, he wants to kill him. So please, you have to stop this match."

"Naruto," Kagome said looking at the distressed genin.

"Relax," Kakashi said. "There's a reason why Sasuke and I were late."

"But you really have to stop this match!" Naruto exclaimed.

"I said shut up and just watch," Kakashi said.

Kagome did not know what to say. So she just continued to watch cautiously.

Sasuke had backed up several feet and was now standing on the wall and charging toward the sand shield, and in his left hand, he was holding lightning.

"That's some pretty strong chakra," Shippō commented.

They watched as Sasuke aimed for a full frontal attack on shield.

"Oh my God," Kōga said. "He actually broke through it."

"Blood, it's my blood!" The heard Gaara scream from inside the shield.

"He felt pain," Kagome said.

"Sasuke's lightning must have been powerful enough to open up quite a wound," Kōga said.

"Uhm guys," Shippō said. "That arm doesn't look human."

"It looks demonic," Kōga said. "And it's trying to grab Sasuke."

"The spirit inside of him," Kagome said. "It's trying to emerge and it's angry at Sasuke for making it feel pain."

Suddenly something started falling from the sky in the breeze and people started losing consciousness.

Kagome looked up to get a better look at the falling objects.

"Are those feathers?" She questioned.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello everybody and happy summer break to everyone who like me is out of school for the next few months. LadySongbird16 and I hope everyone likes this chapter.**

 **Chapter 9**

Kagome, Shippō, Kōga, and Kilala looked as everyone around them was unconscious. Only a few shinobi, i.e. Guy, Kakashi, and Sakura were able to stop themselves from being affected by whatever kind of jutsu was being used against the spectators.

"What the hell are these feathers for?" Kōga questioned.

"Whatever they are they've worked their magic on almost everyone here," Shippō stated.

"Everyone except our demon citizens," Kagome confirmed.

"Something is definitely not right here," Shippō said.

"I have a bad feeling that things may only get worse from here," Kagome stated.

Suddenly there was an explosion, and Kagome, Kōga, and Shippō traced it right to the Hokage's balcony.

"Oh no Sesshōmaru," Kagome cried out.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 _Meanwhile_

Up in the Hokage's balcony there was a mass of thick smoke. Sesshōmaru couldn't tell exactly what was going on, but one thing was for sure; there was danger.

"Lord Kazekage what's the meaning of this?" Lord Hokage questioned.

The Kazekage said nothing and the smoke only continued to get thicker. Suddenly three kunai came flying in their direction, only instead of hitting one of them, the jōnin body guard standing by the Hokage got hit with all of them.

"Lord Hokage," he said struggling for breath. "You must flee. You must escape now."

Then the bodyguard fell dead. Then before Sesshōmaru could even react the Kazekage speed over to the Hokage grabbed him and put a kunai to his neck.

"You fool!" Sesshōmaru said reaching for his sword. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Not so fast Lord Sesshōmaru," the Kazekage said. "You make one move towards us and I'll end the Hokage's life."

Suddenly four anbu black ops jumped toward the scene, only they threw off their cloaks and masks and their revealed their true identities. They were all wearing white tunics held up by a large purple belt, black pants, black sandals, and shinobi head bands each with a quarter note on it.

"Sound ninja," the Hokage said.

Sound ninja, these were the shinobi of the village that they were told to avoid contact with?

"I don't know what you think you're playing at but you're not only violating your treaty with the Leaf Village but with my village as well," Sesshōmaru declared.

"Perhaps the old man here should have told you to be more careful about what villages you trust Lord Sesshōmaru," the Kazekage replied. "Do it," he said looking at the four sound ninja.

"Ninja Art, Four Flames Formation," they all said.

Sesshōmaru jumped out of the way just in time as a large purple box barrier surrounded the two kages.

"Come we must help Lord Hokage," a voice behind Sesshōmaru said.

Sesshōmaru turned to see four Anbu black ops charging toward the barrier, when one of them touched it though, they burned.

" _I don't know what kind of jutsu this is but I don't think even Kagome's spiritual power can break through this,"_ he thought. _"I could destroy these sound ninjas to break it but the Kazekage is still holding the Hokage hostage."_

"I cannot believe this," the Hokage said. "The Sand Village betraying the Leaf Village."

"The treaty between our villages was merely a trick to make you lower your guard," the Kazekage declared. "From now on the course of history will be changed."

"Violence is no way to solve this conflict," Lord Hokage declared. "We should be solving this with negotiation. There is still time Lord Kazekage, for you to reconsider."

The Kazekage began to laugh.

"Perhaps the fear of death is something that comes with age," the Kazekage said. "Saratobi sensei."

" _He called him sensei,"_ Sesshōmaru thought. _"He's not the Kazekage then. Who is he though?"_

"Well our plan was to capture Sasuke while Gaara kept everyone distracted," the Kazekage imposter said.

"So Sasuke and the Leaf Village were your targets all along," the Hokage said.

The Kazekage imposter laughed again.

"The Leaf Village means nothing to me," he declared. "Perhaps if Gaara returns I can show you something interesting, very interesting. However, your stubbornness and incompetence has allowed me to outmaneuver you. I have finally defeated you."

"You should know that nothing is decided until the very end," Lord Hokage declared. "I taught you that a long time ago didn't I?"

Then the Kazekage imposter pulled off is face to reveal who he really was.

"Orochimaru," the Hokage said.

" _He's the one who cursed the Uchiha boy?"_ Sesshōmaru thought.

"I knew that eventually this day was going to arrive," Lord Hokage said to Orochimaru. "However, you're not going to defeat me that easily."

" _His scent is so strange,"_ Sesshōmaru stated. _"It's not like that of a demon, but something is definitely strange about this one."_

"So you're the one called Orochimaru," Sesshōmaru said getting the strange shinobi's attention. "Tell me, what's your game? What do you get by attacking these people?"

"Lord Sesshōmaru" Orochimaru said. "I believe that what I want with these people should be the least of your worries right now. There is someone here that wants to meet you."

Sesshōmaru turned around and just in time he managed to avoid being hit by a blade that rivaling the size of his late brother's Tessaiga.

Sesshōmaru got a better look at his adversary. Long black hair, tan skin, blue eyes, a purple four-pointed star tattooed on his forehead. He remembered the stories of the Band of Seven, and Kagome had told him before of her encounters with this man, Bankotsu.

"Well, well, well," he said. "So I finally get to meet the great Lord Sesshōmaru."

"How is this possible?" Sesshōmaru questioned. "My brother destroyed you centuries ago."

"Oh he did," Bankotsu confirmed. "You'd be surprised what these shinobi are capable of. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go and kill some people."

Sesshōmaru watched as Bankotsu jumped away.

Bankotsu was from his world, so he was his responsibility, and who's to say he won't go after Kagome, Shippō, Kōga, and the rest of his people who were there."

"Lord Sesshōmaru," Lord Hokage said.

Sesshōmaru turned around and looked at the elderly shinobi.

"Go," Lord Hokage said. "This is my fight. Go protect your own people."

"If that is what you wish," Sesshōmaru said before flying down toward the stands.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Back in the stands Kagome, Shippō, Kōga, along with the conscious demon people of their village were still trapped in the stands. Sound ninja had managed to disguise themselves as ANBU black ops with something Kakashi called genjutsu. Kakashi had managed to send Naruto, Sakura, and Shikamaru, along with some dog Kakashi summoned called Pakkun, off to follow Sasuke, who had gone after Gaara. Kagome, Kōga, and Shippō actually had no idea what to do. If they ran for it then they would have to round up all their unconscious human citizens along with all the other demons, and that was definitely too big of a task to do at the moment because it would catch the sound ninja's attention; and if they fought back, who knows what the outcome would be. All they could do was watch Kakashi and guy fight the sound ninja until they saw an opportunity to act.

Suddenly though Sesshōmaru came swooping down and slashed through all four of the sound ninjas with his claws.

"Sesshōmaru," Kagome said. "What's happening up there?"  
"The one called Orochimaru was impersonating the Kazekage," Sesshōmaru declared. "He has the Hokage trapped with that barrier technique is followers are using."

"What a nuisance," Kakashi said angrily.

"I sensed a strange aura up there for sure," Kagome said. "I also sensed another though, who else was up there."

"Bankotsu has returned somehow," Sesshōmaru declared.

"What?" Kōga questioned. "How though? Inuyasha destroyed that stupid mercenary long ago."

"I don't know that answer, but he's out there now with the rest of the of the enemy."

"Those people are a threat to our safety," a fox demon declared. "Should we not fight them?"

"No," Sesshōmaru said. "Our first priority is getting our human villagers to safety. You will go with Kōga and get them out of here. Once you have done that Kōga will lead those willing to fight out to aid the Leaf Village shinobi."

"Shippō listen to me," Kagome said looking at her son. "As soon as you get the humans to safety I want you to stay with them and protect them."

"But Kagome," Shippō said.

"No buts Shippō," Kagome said.

"Kagome," Sesshōmaru said getting her attention. "Go after Bankotsu."

"Why me?" Kagome questioned.

"You are the one who dealt with him in the past," Sesshōmaru confirmed. "You should know how to deal with him best."

"That does make sense," Kagome replied. "Okay. Kilala let's go."

"Just don't forget this," Sesshōmaru said.

He pulled her bow and a quiver of arrows, and her sword from his cloak and handed them both to Kagome.

"Thank you," Kagome said taking her weapons.

Kilala transformed into her larger cat form and Kagome hopped on her back.

"Lady Kagome," Guy said.

Kagome turned to face the jōnin.

"Be careful out there," Guy said.

"Guy's right," Kakashi said. "If the Sand or Sound shinobi see you they won't hesitate to attack you."  
"Don't worry," Kagome said. "I've walked into danger before."

With that said she flew off.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Kagome flew into the wooded areas of the village. She could sense his aura so she followed it until she saw him jumping through the trees, clearly looking for a victim.

"Kilala go lower," Kagome said.

Kilala obeyed and Kagome drew back her bow and shot one of her arrows in his general direction. It landed a few feet in front of him and he turned to see who shot it, and he looked pretty surprised.

"You," he said. "It's been over three hundred years how are you still alive?"

"How am I still alive?" Kagome questioned. "You died. I watched as Inuyasha destroyed your sword and you along with it."

"Oh yeah," Bankotsu said. "Where is that stupid dog?"

"He's dead," Kagome said bitterly.

"So I guess Naraku was too much for him," Bankotsu mocked.

"Shut up," Kagome said loading her bow.

"I don't care if you're still alive either way," Bankotsu said. "I'll still defeat you."

"Just one question?" Kagome said. "How are you resurrected?"

"It was their leader," Bankotsu said.

"Who?" Kagome continued.

"The strange looking one with the black hair and white skin," Bankotsu continued.

"Who is he?" Kagome yelled.

"I believe the old man with the beard called him Orochimaru," Bankotsu said.

" _Orochimaru,"_ Kagome thought. _"The one who gave Sasuke the cursed mark?"_

"How though?" Kagome asked.

"I have no idea. I didn't ask and no one told me," he replied with a smile.

"You're obviously going to join them in this fight," Kagome said. "Harming the people of the Leaf Village as well as the people of my village. So I'll just have to stop you."

Kagome fired an arrow right in his direction but he dodged it.

"How?" Bankotsu asked. "You think your sacred arrows are enough to defeat me?"

"You think my bow is my only weapon," Kagome said unsheathing her sword.

"Well," Bankotsu said. "I see you had a lot of free time to learn a new way of fighting."

Kagome charged right at him and their swords clashed with each other and they took turns swing at each other but the other would always miss. It went on like that for quite a while. After about probably 20 minute he managed to give her a cut on her arm.

"You're actually not bad," Bankotsu admitted. "You're still no match for me as long as I have Banryū you can't defeat me."

"You think you can defeat me just because of your sword?" Kagome questioned. "Think again."

They went at it again until Kagome got an idea. She kept swinging her sword at him until they were both at a standstill, swords still blocking one from the other. Then she kicked him right in the shin which caused him to stumble back. When he got up about to recover she quickly grabbed her bow and swung it. Hitting his right across the head with great force, and Bankotsu feel unconscious.

"That actually worked out better than I thought it would," Kagome stated. She attempted to lift the Bankotsu in a fireman's carry and drag him over to Kilala.

"Wow," Kagome said. "I never would have considered myself weak or anything, but this guy is a lot heavier than I thought. Come on Kilala, you're gonna have to carry him."

"Kagome," a voice called in the distance.

"Lady Kagome," several other voices called.

Kagome turned to see Kōga, leading several demon citizens of their village toward her.

"Kagome are you alright?" Kōga asked.

"Other than this scratch on my arm I'm fine," Kagome declared. "Where are Shippō and the humans?"

"They made it to safety," Kōga declared. "Their hiding with the nobles the Leaf shinobi lead to safety."

"That's good," Kagome replied.

"Kagome is that really Bankotsu?" Kōga questioned.

"Yes," Kagome replied. "Apparently this Orochimaru character brought him back somehow."

"Is he dead?" Kōga asked.

"No," Kagome said. "I knocked him unconscious."

Suddenly Sesshōmaru came swooping down in front of Kagome.

"Sesshōmaru where have you been?" Kōga questioned.

Sesshōmaru ignored Koga's question and looked at Kagome. "You took care of him?"

"Yes," Kagome replied. "He's unconscious for now."

"And his weapon," Sesshōmaru continued.

"Right here," Kagome said picking up the heavy sword and handing it to Sesshōmaru.

"We're going to have to bind him and keep an eye on him," Sesshōmaru stated.

"What if he tries to escape though?" Kōga questioned.

"I doubt he can go far," Kagome stated. "Plus, he won't want to leave without his precious sword."

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 **Pairing Rankings**

1st: Sesshomaru

2nd: Kakashi

3rd: Itachi

4th: Bankotsu

 **LadySongbird16 and I hope to get more votes soon since it's been a while since anyone has voted and remember the pairing won't be decided for a while sot there is still lots of time and if you have previously voted but end up changing your mind for whatever reason send a PM or write a review explaining why and we can change your vote.**


	10. Chapter 10

**So here is the newest update, sorry it took so long. Work got in the way of writing, but hopefully the next update will be quicker. LadySongbird16 and I hope you all enjoy this newest chapter.**

 **Chapter 10**

Kagome, Kōga, Kilala and a few of their demon villagers were wondering through the forest when a few sound and sand ninjas emerged from the trees.

"Dammit," Kōga said. "We're surrounded."

"Where do you demons think you're going?" One of the sound ninja questioned.

"What do you want with us?" Kagome questioned. "We have nothing that you want."

"As far as we're concerned," Another sound ninja said. "You're all just in the way."

"And we can't let you assist any of the Leaf Village shinobi," another sound shinobi said. "So we're gonna have to take you out."

"We'll see about that," Kōga said. "Attack."

So, Kōga, Kagome, and the demons moved to attack the sound shinobi. Of course, some of the shinobi didn't stand a chance and were dead almost instantly, others had a little more luck with the jutsus they were capable, but eventually after some difficult fighting, they met their demises as well.

"This really is a war," Kagome confirmed. "Kill or be killed."

"This Orochimaru must really want something from the village if he's resorting to things like this," Kōga said.

"Yeah," Kagome said.

Suddenly Kagome heard some groaning. She turned to see that Bankotsu was beginning to stir.

"Excuse me for a minute," Kagome said.

She went over to where Bankotsu was bound on Kilala's back, took the sheath of her sword and hit him on the back of the head, sending him back into his unconscious state.

"How the hell is this idiot even here?" Kōga questioned. "I thought you guys took care of him back in the Feudal era?"

"So did I," Kagome replied. "He said that Orochimaru did this somehow."

"How can a shinobi even pull this off though?" Kōga questioned. "You mean to say that they have some sort of jutsu that can resurrect the dead?"

"I don't know," Kagome replied. "Even if they can though, how did anyone even find Bankotsu, and how was Orochimaru able to resurrect him and give him back his sword as well?"

"He's not much of threat without it though," Kōga replied. "Sesshōmaru has it now, so the only way for him to get it back is by defeating Sesshōmaru; which we both know isn't going to happen in his current state."

"He might not be a threat to us now," Kagome said. "The Sound and Sand ninjas still are though, and they're a threat to the Leaf Village as well."

"You're right," Kōga said. "We need to stay in this fight for the sake of the Leaf Village as well as our villagers."

"You and the others go on ahead of me Kōga," Kagome said. "Kilala and I will keep going as long as we can."

"Kagome are you sure about that?" Kōga questioned.

"Of course I am," Kagome replied. "I'm sure a lot of the Sound and Sand ninja are going to be pushing ahead to stop any of the Leaf shinobi who will stand in their way. I guarantee Naruto, Sakura, and Shikamaru already have a lot of them on their tail with them chasing after Sasuke. Go on ahead of me and stop as many of them as possible. The more we take out, the less there are to continue to threaten the innocents and to try and eliminate the Leaf Village."

"Alright," Kōga said. "Just be careful Kagome."

"Don't worry," Kagome replied. "I will."

So Kōga and the other demons went ahead, looking for the enemy.

Kagome and Kilala proceeded through the wooded area cautiously. They couldn't just stay in one place like sitting ducks. The sand and sound shinobi would get them too easily that way. Bankotsu had already woke up twice and Kagome had to knock him out with her bow.

"I swear," Kagome said. "If he gets brain damage I'm not taking the blame for it."

Suddenly Kagome heard a noise coming from the trees. She grabbed an arrow from her quiver and then as she expected four sound ninja jumped down from the trees.

"You really thought you could hide from me didn't you?" Kagome said.

"Don't flatter yourself lady," one of the Sound shinobi said. "You might not be who we're looking for, but that doesn't mean we won't take you down."

"So you think," Kagome said firing a sacred arrow in his direction. "Hit the mark."

The one sound ninja was dead before he could even scream.

"What the?!" Another ninja exclaimed. "What the Hell are you lady?"

"I'm the woman you shouldn't have messed with," Kagome said loading her bow again. "Kilala."

The large cat demon lunged at the remaining sound ninja and Kagome kept firing arrows at the Sound ninja until some where either shot in the chest or pinned to the trees.

"Good work Kilala," Kagome said to her cat demon companion. "Thank goodness this idiot didn't wake up. He would have tried to escape."

Kagome sat down against one of the trees.

"Well Kilala," she said. "I think this is as far as we can go for now. You should sit down too."

Kilala did as she was told.

"Good thing this idiot is tied up," Kagome said trying to get the heavy mercenary off of Kilala's back. "I wonder how long it will be until he comes to again?"

Kilala transformed into her smaller form and jumped onto Kagome's shoulder and gave her an affectionate nuzzle.

"Thanks Kilala," Kagome said. "I just wonder how safe we really are out here right now. I don't have the ability to put up a barrier like Miroku used to do, and even if I could I don't know what would happen if anyone tried to get through it. I don't want to see an innocent Leaf Village shinobi get incinerated because he or she tried to break through the barrier."

Kagome looked at Bankotsu's bound form again to make sure he wasn't going to stir anytime soon.

"I still don't see how it's possible," she said. "When the witch Urasue tried to resurrect Kikyo she was able to reconstruct her body with soil from her graveyard, her ashes, and tried using my soul to make her complete. Naraku resurrected him by jamming a shared of the jewel into his bones, and I don't know any other methods of resurrection. Bankotsu didn't have a grave and his body disappeared in the Feudal Era when Inuyasha destroyed him. Although I'm sure as soon as all of this is over and we can leave this village Sesshōmaru is going to want to interrogate him; and I know I have more questions for him myself."

Kilala mewled in agreement.

"You know what Kilala," Kagome began. "As much as I want to make sure this idiot doesn't get up and escape I think he's only holding us back from getting to the others, and I'll admit, I'm terrified that Sasuke won't be able to handle whatever is inside of Gaara. Whatever kind of spirit lives within him is angry, and it's out for blood. There's only one thing we can do Kilala, we have to take him back to where Shippō and the others are hiding and then continue on to find Naruto and his friends. Think you have enough energy to fly?"

Kilala meowed in response.

"Alright," Kagome said hopping on Kilala's back. "Let's go find Shippō."

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Kagome and Kilala flew back toward the village. They saw that Shippō and the humans were hiding behind various stands in the market.

"Shippō?" Kagome questioned, looking for her 'son'.

"Kagome," Shippō questioned.

"Why are you guys hiding here?" Kagome questioned.

"We didn't really know where else to go," Shippō said. "The shinobi had evacuated the students, but we don't know exactly where they are going though."

"You're not going to be safe here for long," Kagome declared. "As soon as you see a jōnin, ask them where you can seek shelter. Otherwise the Sand shinobi will find you all for sure."

"Why are you here Kagome?" Shippō questioned.

"Because I have this unconscious idiot with me," Kagome stated.

"So it really is Bankotsu?" Shippō asked.

"Yes," Kagome said. "He's unconscious, but he's woken up a couple of times already. I really need to go back and find Naruto and the others, but I can't go any further with him. So you're just going to have to keep an eye on him until I return."

"What?" Shippō questioned in shock.

"You heard me Shippō," Kagome said.

"What if he regains consciousness again though?" Shippō asked.

"You hit him on the head," Kagome stated. "I've done it several times already and it's worked."

Kagome lifted Bankotsu off of Kilala and two of the human citizens lifted him and placed him on the ground.

"Kagome," Shippō said. "Please be careful."

"Don't worry Shippō," Kagome said. "One way or another we'll get out of this alive."

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Kagome and Kilala flew above the trees. Kilala flying as fast as possible in order for them to reach the direction she could feel the danger from.

"There's a strong aura ahead," she said to herself. "It's not coming from Naruto, but it feels like one of the spirits, so it has to be from that boy Gaara. Which means that Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura are probably already there."

The further they went the stronger the aura continued to grow. When Kagome finally got there she couldn't believe what she saw. The spirit that she sensed within Gaara was taking over his human form, and he had Sakura trapped. Naruto and Sasuke were on the other side and they looked completely exhausted; as if they had already exerted a good amount of chakra.

As she and Kilala drew closer they caught the attention of the girl Shikamaru had been battling before, Temari. She had looked like she was observing everything in fear until she saw Kagome and Kilala coming. She pulled her fan out and tried to hit them, but Kilala dodged the attack in time and Kagome was able to swipe the giant fan right out of Temari's hands.

"You know," Kagome said. "The last time I fought a woman with a fan it was much smaller than this, but it still did a lot more damage than what I saw yours is capable of. Regardless though, I think I'll hold onto this. If you know what's good for you then you'll stay out of this fight. Although it looks like you were already doing that."

Then she looked right at Gaara how had half of this body already taken over by the now, and Sakura was already unconscious. She and Kilala flew right by the young half-transformed shinobi and attempted to try and slash at the sand that was holding Sakura in place but to no avail.

"Kagome," Naruto said getting her attention. "What are you doing here?"

Pakkun who had been hiding in the trees jumped out of his hiding spot and stared at Kagome in surprise.

"I sensed the aura getting stronger," Kagome said. "I'm here to help. Although I don't think getting Sakura out of that gunk it a possibility. I wouldn't touch it I have no idea how it will react to anything I could do to it. I don't want to accidently hurt Sakura."

"What do we do?" Naruto asked.

"You fight for the sake of others," Gaara said.

"I can't tell if that's the spirit talking or him," Kagome stated.

"You must fight for no one but yourself," Gaara continued.

"No," Naruto said. "I need to save my friends."

"It's hopeless," Gaara said as more of the one-tail beast began to take over his form. "You'll never save the girl. As soon as the sand completely hardens, her body will be crushed."

" _The beast is completely taking over his body, but it doesn't feel like its presence is completely there,"_ Kagome stated.

"I'm not giving up," Naruto stated.

Kagome could see that his body language said otherwise. Suddenly it looked like he had an idea though because she started using hand signs and then he bit the tip of his thumb in placed his hand of the branch of the tree.

"Summoning jutsu," he said.

Then standing in front of Naruto was a small orange toad with purple markings wearing a blue vest.

" _A toad?"_ Kagome thought to herself. _"What kind of plan is this?"_

"What's this?!" The little toad questioned. "You're a little kid! Well whatever it is, I hope you bought along some treats."

"Oh give me a break!" Naruto yelled. "I'm really starting to hate you stinky frogs!"

"Really?" The little toad said. "Making fun of the amphibians?"

"Listen," Naruto began. "I don't have time for this. I need to save everyone."

"Everyone…you say?" Gaara questioned. "That's your big mistake. When I fight, I fight for me and me alone. Sand Shuriken!"

Kagome and Kilala watched in horror as the sand shurikens made their way toward Naruto and the little toad, Naruto grabbed him and jumped out of the way, dodging them just in time. Only he fell several feet from one of the higher branches and landed several feet onto another.

"Naruto!" she yelled.

" _What can I do?"_ Kagome thought. _"As strong and dangerous as this beast is, there's still a child inside of there. A child, that from what I can understand so far only longs for someone to truly care, a child who's been in a dark place; maybe that's why Naruto looks so mixed up by this."_

"What's a matter?" Gaara questioned. "Are you afraid of me, or are you still thinking about fighting for the sake of others. You should fight only for yourself! He who does is the strongest!"

" _He's wrong,"_ Kagome thought. " _Having someone to fight for gives you strength, having someone to protect, someone you care about, and cares about you in return. That's were my strength came from."  
_ "You were so bold and cocky before," Gaara continued. "Show me your strength so I can rip it to shreds! Fight me or I'll kill the girl!"  
"Okay, you asked for it!" Naruto said lunging toward the beast. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Several clones were now jumping toward the best, but it inhaled deeply and blew out a huge gust of wind and sand, like a stand storm. The clones disappeared and soon Naruto was once again on the other side, face down on a tree branch.

"I think I'll toy with you a while," Gaara said. "Watch you abandon your friends and beg for mercy before you die!"

The beast then started throwing several sand shurikens at Naruto, sending him flying into and breaking several tree branches.

"That's it!" Kagome said landing on the branch next to Sasuke and pulling out her bow. "Just because I refuse to kill this beast, doesn't mean I can't fight."

Kagome aimed for the tail and fired an arrow. The tail disintegrated for a brief second, before rebuilding itself.

" _Dammit,"_ she thought.

This caught Gaara's attention though, and it looked right where she was standing.

"Stupid woman," he said. "What quarrel do you even have with me? Sand Shuriken!"

Kagome grabbed Sasuke and jumped onto Kilala's back, flying higher to avoid being hit.

"Kagome," Sasuke said still in pain. "Why are you here?"

"These idiots attacked not only your village," Kagome said. "They put my people in danger. Besides, I can't just let them kill all three of you. It looks like you all needed me."

Kagome and Sasuke watched as Naruto continued using the shadow clone jutsu over and over to on Gaara.

"Take this," Naruto said flying at Gaara. "Leaf Village Secret Ultimate Taijutsu technique, straight from the teachings of Kakashi sensei, A Thousand Years of Death!"

Kagome, Sasuke, Temari, Pakkun, and the little toad watched in shock as Naruto stabbed his kunai right in the base of the tail.

Gaara hit Naruto and he began to fall backwards toward one of the trees, but then Kagome watched as there was an explosion. It caught her off guard for a second that she did not realize Sasuke had leapt off Kilala in the direction of Naruto.

She saw both of them collide with each other on the tree branch and flew over toward them.

"All of that work and you only scored one blow?" Sasuke questioned.

"Oh put a sock in it," Naruto replied.

"It was actually pretty impressive," Kagome commented.

"Naruto," Sasuke began. "Listen to me, you have to rescue Sakura, if it's the last thing you do. Once you got her, I want you to take her and flee as fast as you can. It's all up to you."

"Sasuke…you," Naruto began.

"I can hold him here," Sasuke said attempting to stand, put grabbing his chest in pain. "A little longer. If it ends here, it just means this is as far as I was meant to go. I lost everything once, I never want to have to see that again. My trusted comrades falling, right in front of me."

"Sasuke you're being crazy," Kagome said. "You already used a lot of chakra fighting him before, and even with the curse mark gone, your body can only take so much."

"Curse mark?" Naruto questioned.

"It's not my place to tell Naruto," Kagome declared. "Let someone else tell you later."  
"I get it now," Naruto said standing up as well.

Sasuke and Kagome looked at him in confusion.

"He's no different than I am," Naruto said looking at Gaara. "Going through life with the exact same sadness and loneliness that I had to carry, he fought only for himself, never relying on anyone, and because of that I thought that he possessed strength, I really did."

"Naruto," Sasuke said.

"I don't know," Naruto continued. "I guess I should have known better. That's not what real strength is. If you never fight for anyone but yourself, you'll never be strong, no matter what you do!"

A mass amount of chakra started surrounded Naruto.

" _So much,"_ Kagome thought. _"Is this all his own chakra, or is he getting it from the fox spirit?"  
_ Suddenly hundreds of Naruto shadow clones were everywhere.

"No way," Kagome said. "There's so many of them.

"How did you…do this?" Sasuke questioned.

"Sasuke," Naruto said. "Why don't you take it easy for a while, you deserve it. Just leave the rest to Naruto Uzamaki!"

Naruto's clones all lunged at the still-healing Gaara and attacked him.

Pakkun, jumped over to the branch they were sitting on and looked at Kagome again before bowing his head.

"My lady," he said.

"Oh no," Kagome said apprehensively. "Please, don't call me that. I'm not a lady."

"Why are you calling her that?" Sasuke questioned. "Do you know who she is?"

"I know exactly who she is," Pakkun declared. "You're the Shikon Priestess."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kagome stated.

"I know it's you," Pakkun said. "I can sense it."

"The Shikon jewel disappeared over 300 years ago," Kagome declared.

Her hand subconsciously traveled down to the scar on her left hip.

After what felt like a long time Naruto and his clones managed to slam Gaara off of the tress he was standing on and onto the ground where he landed so hard he created a big crater. Naruto and his clones moved to attack again, but Gaara emerged at hit Naruto and his clones, causing Naruto to land on top of another tree. Then Gaara emerged again, only it seemed this time he was completely taken over.

"Naruto!" Kagome yelled.

Gaara was further away from everyone now, but he was huge, his human form was gone and in its place was a strange looking creature with one long tail.

"The aura is so strong," Kagome said. "Nothing like the strength of a demon like Kōga or Sesshōmaru, but still powerful. Is this one of the tailed-beasts that the Hokage told me of?"

Then there was another explosion, and standing not too far from the fully transformed Gaara was Naruto, and he was standing on top of a gigantic toad!

"How did he do that?" Sasuke said.

"Sasuke," Kagome began. "Stay here."

"What?" Sasuke replied.

"You heard me," Kagome replied. "You need to keep an eye on Sakura. If Naruto does what I think he's gonna do, then Gaara's release on her will break. I'm getting closer to those spirits, maybe I can help Naruto find a weakness. Come on Kilala."

Kagome jumped on Kilala's back and flew off toward the gigantic creatures not too far from them.

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"What the…" the giant toad began "Not you again. What is this?"

Then he looked at the fully transformed Gaara.

"Well, would you look at that," he began. "Shukaku the Sand Spirit."

"What do you say?" Naruto began. "Will you alongside me Chief Toad?"

The Chief Toad blow smoke out from his giant pipe. "Take a hike," he said.

"Are you serious," Kagome said flying toward the scene. "The shinobi need your help; the entire village is in trouble."

The chief toad took one look at Kagome and immediately dropped lower to the ground in a bow.

"My lady," he said.

"Oh great," Kagome said. "Not again."

"My lady?" Naruto asked. "What's going on? Why did you just call Kagome that?"

"I have heard many stories years ago about the priestess and her villagers. This woman was able to make peace with many demons and humans alike, and she is said to be the protector of a sacred object more powerful than any creature can imagine. Forgive my manners my lady, I am Gamabunta, Chief Toad of Mount Myōboku."  
"It's a pleasure Chief Gamabunta," Kagome said. "But please, you do not need to call me my lady, it's just Kagome."

Then the smaller toad from before jumped on top of Naruto's head.

"Come on Pops," he said. "Don't be like that. Why don't you just settle down and hear the kid out?"  
"Pops?" Kagome questioned.

"And just what do you think you're doing here Gamakichi?" Gamabunta asked.

"This small one is your son?" Kagome questioned.

"Yes," Gamabunta said. "Gamakichi show your respect to the priestess."

"Priestess?" Gamakichi asked. "The one from the village of the demons. Forgive me please my lady, I did not know."

"Really, it's not a big deal," Kagome replied. "Please, just call me Kagome though."

"By the way pops," Gamakichi said pointing to the sand spirit. "That guy over there was picking on me before."

"Come again?" Gamabunta said angrily.

"Oh yeah," Gamakichi said. "And when he did, our friend here came to my rescue."

"It's true," Kagome said. "I saw everything Chief Toad. It was quite impressive."

"Alright kid," Gamabunta said pulling out a sword from sheath on his right side. "I fully accept you as my henchman. Now I'll show you what duty is all about."

Kagome and Kilala watched as Gamabunta charged at Shukaku and managed to slice right through his right arm with the sword.

"Amazing," Kagome said as she watched the arm dissolve.

Then she looked at the damage that was happening to the landscape.

"If they keep this up though the whole landscape is going to be affected" Kagome mumbled.

She looked back toward the sand spirit only see something else was happening to it. Gaara's body was emerging from it, and his eyes had no pupils!

"What's happening?" She asked. "I've never seen anything like this," she stated.  
"To thank you for entertaining me today," Gaara spoke. "I will now show you the true manifestation of the sand!"

"The sand spirit has completely possessed him," Kagome said. "It's using him as a medium."

Gaara raised his arms out, making a hand sign. "Play Possum Jutsu." Then his body hunched over

"He put himself to sleep" Kagome realized. "Which must mean the sand spirit has full control now."

"Alright," the Shukaku said looking up toward the sky. "I'm finally free."

"That's one crazy sounding spirit," Kagome declared.

The spirit then pointed at Gamabunta and Naruto.

"I hope you're ready to die," it said. "Let's do this."

"Wind Style: Air Bullets!" The Shukaku said extended its arm out."

"Kilala," Kagome said to her feline companion.

They flew up and in the opposite direction, managing to avoid the center of the strong blast of wind, but getting caught in part of it, which caused them to be thrown back several feet.

"Water Style: Liquid Bullets!" Gamabunta said jumping in the air and fire bullets of water from his mouth.

Kagome watched as the two different styles of bullets collided and caused a storm, soaking her and Kilala in the process.

"I don't think I've ever seen demons fight with these styles," she commented. "This is insane. I'm not entirely sure what we should do Kilala. I feel like my sacred power can take that thing down, but the child is still in there."

The two animals continued to go at each other for a long time before the Shukaku landed a blow on Naruto and Gamabunta that sent them flying to the sky.

"Naruto," Kagome yelled.

Much her relief though, Gamabunta jumped right back into sight.

"There has to be some way they can make fighting him a bit easier," Kagome said. "Unless, when a body is being possessed, if the host wakes up, the spirit loses its sole control."

"Kilala," Kagome said. "Get next to Gamabunta.

Kilala did what she was asked and flew as fast as she could toward the giant toad.

"Naruto," Kagome said. "You need to figure out a way to wake up Gaara. If you do that Shukaku might lose complete control."

"How do I wake him though?" Naruto asked.

"He hasn't been out for long," Kagome said. "A good strong hit should work."

"Alright," Naruto said.

"Lady Kagome," Gamabunta began. "I recommend you and your cat companion get further away, you can be greatly affected by the impact of what's to come."

"If you insist," Kagome said. "Naruto, be careful. I won't interfere for now, but if it gets bad I'll find a way to help."

"You got it," Naruto replied. "Thanks for the tip Kagome."

Kagome and Kilala flew further away from the scene and watched.

"I sure hope one or both of them has an idea on how to do this," she said.

For a while Gamabunta struggled to keep a hold on the Shukaku, but once they were pushed back and started running at the Shukaku Kagome could have heard Gamabunta yell transform.

There was a lot of smoke, but when it finally cleared, Kagome could not believe what she saw. It was a giant orange fox, with red eyes, sharp fangs, and nine tails!

"A fox," Kagome said. "Is this the nine-tail fox that I was told about? The aura feels the same as what I feel every time I'm near Naruto though. It would feel a lot stronger if the actual fox came out, how were the able to take the form of the fox though?"

In the form of the fox though they were able to get a grip on Shukaku and Naruto emerged from the fox and punched Gaara right in the face.

"No!" The Shukaku Spirit screamed. "This isn't fair, I just got here!"

"It must have worked," Kagome said.

Then she saw Gaara trap Naruto in what looked like a sand coffin, but then she felt something strange.

" _The aura of the fox inside Naruto,"_ she thought. _"I can feel it getting stronger."_

Naruto broke free from the sand and Kagome noticed visible red chakra surrounding Naruto.

"He must have tapped into the fox spirit's chakra," Kagome said. "Is he enough for Gaara though?"

She watched as the two shinobi continued to hit each other, and then Naruto head but Gaara.

"The sand is disappearing Kilala," Kagome said. "All from one head butt."

Gaara started to fall and so did Naruto, then there was a cloud of smoke and Gamabunta and Gamakichi were gone.

"Kilala let's get over to Naruto," Kagome said.

So they flew over to the two teens who were now sitting on top of trees right across from each other, both gasping for air, and both bleeding between the eyes.

"Naruto," Kagome said. "Are you alright?"

"I can't go any further," Naruto said looking at Gaara. "I've used up all my chakra, and from the look of it so have you. You and I are a lot alike, more than you know. We shouldn't be doing this."

Gaara got up and jumped toward Naruto, his fist prepared to punch him. Naruto jumped toward them as well and punched in first, causing both genin to fall again.

"Let's go Kilala," Kagome said.

They flew down to where the two genin were now lying on the ground. Only she noticed Naruto started crawling toward Gaara.

"Naruto," she said getting off Kilala and running toward the knuckle-headed ninja. "What are you doing? Your injuries are too great for you to keep moving."

"No stay away!" Gaara yelled from the other side.

When Naruto stopped Kagome knelt down beside him.

"It's almost unbearable isn't it?" Naruto questioned. "The feeling of being all alone. I know that feeling, I've been there, in that dark and lonely place, but now here are others. Other people who mean a lot to me. I care more about them than I do myself, and I won't let anyone hurt them. That's why I won't ever give up. I will stop you…even if I have to kill you!"

"But why?" Gaara asked. "Why would you do this for anyone but yourself?"

"Because they saved me from myself," Naruto declared. "They rescued me from my loneliness, they were the first to accept me for who I am, they're my friends."

Suddenly Sasuke emerged from the trees and knelt on the other side of Naruto.

"Sasuke," Kagome said. "Glad you're okay."

"Naruto," Sasuke said to the wounded blonde. "That's enough. Look, Sakura is going to be alright."

"Thank goodness," Kagome said. "The sand disappeared then?"

"Yes," Sasuke replied.

Then two more ninja showed up and knelt in front of Gaara, one Kagome recognized was Temari, the one she stole the fan from. The other was the one who forfeited during the third round, Kankuro."

"That's enough," Gaara said.

The two sand shinobi looked back at Gaara.

"It's over," Gaara said.

Kankuro picked Gaara up and slung Gaara's left arm over his shoulder. Then he and Temari looked back at Sasuke and Kagome prepared to leave, but then Kagome stood up.

"Kilala," she said calling the cat demon toward her.

When Kilala was right next to her she grabbed Temari's fan from and slowly walked toward the sand shinobi.

"Why?" Temari said looking at her.

"It does belong to you," Kagome said. "I have no use for it. If you have any respect for him, then you won't use it to attack the Leaf shinobi anymore. You'll get him out of here and make sure he gets the medical attention and rest he needs."

With that said the sand shinobi disappeared.

Kagome went back over to Sasuke and Naruto and noticed that Naruto had finally lost consciousness, but he was now smiling.

" _You did well Naruto,"_ Kagome thought, smiling a little herself.

"Come on Sasuke," Kagome said. "Let's go get him some help."

Sasuke managed to pick him up and place his unconscious comrade on Kilala's back. Then Sasuke and Kagome got on and they flew to pick up Sakura and Pakkun and then back toward the village.

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 **LadySongbird16 and I would like to bring up some issues relating to the poll for the main pairing.** _ **This is important so please read this.**_ **First of all there have been people who have voted more than once for the same character. My coauthor don't mind if you vote for more than one character and we are fine with you switching a vote if you change your mind, though in that case we would enjoy getting an explanation. Voting more than once for the same character though is rude. I try to respond to every review and PM so when I think I recognize an account I have to look through all of the reviews and all of my outgoing PMs to make sure that I'm right. This is pretty time consuming and I'd really prefer not to have to do it, so please stop. The second thing is that there have been numerous people who are voted threesomes. That is not one of the options that we have given you and LadySongbird16 and I find the idea to be very out of character for all involved. We respect that everyone likes reading about different things, but we would appreciate it if this would also stop. Sorry for the rant but these issues have been bothering us for a while.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Kagome returned to the market with Sasuke, Pakkun, and Kilala, who was carrying a still unconscious Sakura, Naruto, and Bankotsu on her back. When they got there they found Kakashi, Iruka, and several other jōnin and chūnin as well as Sesshōmaru, Kōga, Shippō, and many of their villagers where all gathered.

"Kagome," Shippō said happily. "You're back."

"Yes," Kagome said. "And it was quite a battle."

"Where are the Sand genin?" Kakashi questioned.

"The boy, Gaara," Kagome began. "Naruto defeated him along with the chief toad. The sand genin have left with him after that. I told them if they cared for him at all that they will leave quietly."

"You truly believe that they will comply?" Guy questioned.

"I do," Kagome replied.

"I must thank you Lady Kagome," Kakashi stated. "My squad would probably not have had such a lucky outcome if not for you."

"They fought brilliantly," Kagome said looking at Sasuke and then at the still unconscious Naruto and Sakura. "All of them. Why do I have a feeling that there is so much more to all of this though. I feel a great sense of sadness from everyone."

"This war wasn't without great casualties Lady Kagome," Iruka began. "The Hokage stopped Orochimaru, but…"

"He took his own life in the process," Asuma finished.

"Oh no," Kagome said. "…I…I don't even know what to say…"

"There is nothing that you need to say Lady Kagome," Anko declared. "None of this was the fault of you or your people, it was all Orochimaru."

"What will you do know that the Sound and Sand shinobi have been defeated?" Kōga questioned.

"We will need to tend to our wounded shinobi," Iruka said. "And after that…we will bury Lord Hokage."

"I understand," Kagome replied.

"With your permission," Sesshōmaru began in his usual cool tone. "We would like to pay our respects to your Hokage as well. He did after all, show nothing but respect to us and our people, and as such, I think our treaty should still stand."

"Of course," Kurenai said. "We would not object, your people have done us no harm."

"I think the rest of our people have seen enough excitement though," Kōga declared.

"Agreed," Kagome said. "Sesshōmaru, what shall we do for the time being?"

"I think it is best that one of us escort our citizens back to our village," Sesshōmaru declared. "Besides, we cannot keep that one here."

Everyone looked at the still unconscious Bankotsu who was lying right by Shippō's feet.

"I still do not understand how Orochimaru could have raised him from the dead," Kagome said. "Has there ever been such a jutsu?"

"No," Guy replied. "None that were known."

"Orochimaru was known to have done many strange and dangerous things when it came to experimenting with the power of a shinobi, though" Anko declared.

"So, that bastard may have very well have found a way to do it," Asuma added.

"Definitely a scary thought," Shippō stated.

"Kōga," Sesshōmaru said looking at the wolf demon councilor. "I will leave you to safely escort our citizens back to our village. Tell the rest of the council what happened and make sure that Bankotsu is locked up and guarded at all times. We will decide his fate with rest of the council when Kagome and I return to the village."

"Understood," Kōga said.

"Shippō," Kagome said to her son. "You go with Kōga, make sure our people get home safely."

"But Kagome," Shippō objected. "I don't want to leave you."

"Shippō I need you to do this," Kagome said. "Our people need to return to our village safely. Besides, you need to help Kōga make sure that this idiot doesn't try to escape."

"Promise you won't be absent for too long?" Shippō questioned.

"We shall return after Lord Hokage's funeral," Sesshōmaru declared.

"Alright," Kōga replied. "Be careful though, I don't want anything to happen to you Kagome."  
"Don't worry," Kagome said. "I'll be fine. You two just make sure the others return home safely; I don't want to have to explain anything to Ayame, Kōga."

"Okay," Shippō said. "I think it's best that Kilala stays here with you though."

"Very well Shippō," Kagome said. "If it will give you some ease."

So Kōga and Shippō said their goodbyes to everyone and proceeded to gather up all of their citizens so they could leave the Leaf Village.

"These two should be taken to the hospital," Kagome said turning her attention back to the still unconscious Sakura and Naruto.

"Agreed," Kakashi said.

"Anko," Kagome said looking at the younger woman. "I believe I have a promise to keep to you, but I prefer that we do it at the hospital."

"If you say so Lady Kagome," Anko replied.

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 _At the hospital_

Kagome had gotten rid of Anko's cursed seal like she had promised, although it did concern Anko a little when she watched Kagome put the curse on her arm before destroying it like she did with Sasuke. Kagome had assured her that she would be find though, her arm was just numb, she knew the feeling would come back eventually. Once she was finished with that she proceeded to check on Naruto and Sakura both of them were fine except for a few scratches here and there; other than that they were both told that they needed to rest up. To her surprise, Naruto didn't object as much as Kagome thought he would.

" _He's really taking the Hokage's death hard,"_ she thought.

A few minutes later once she left Naruto's hospital room she found Sasuke standing outside in the hallway.

"Sasuke?" Kagome questioned.

"Hn," the Uchiha replied.

Kagome noticed that he looked down about something. He was more than likely upset by the Hokage's death like the rest of the village, but Kagome had a suspicion that something else was on the young Uchiha boy's mind.

"What's up Sasuke?" Kagome asked. "You look like you have something on your mind."

"Just thinking about what happened today I suppose," Sasuke deadpanned.

"About the fight?" Kagome questioned.

"Naruto showed so much strength and he was able to defeat Gaara," Sasuke replied. "Without him, Sakura and I could be dead. I just don't understand that despite using so much chakra and knowing that the odds were against him that he was still able to do it; while I could barely do anything about it."

"And that's what bothers you?" Kagome said. "That someone like you who has always shown more shinobi talent was 'outshined' by Naruto, a goofball who has struggled his whole life just to even become a shinobi?"  
"Yes," Sasuke replied.

"Sasuke," Kagome began. "Listen to me, I've been alive for centuries, and yes, I am a powerful priestess, but that doesn't mean I never struggled to become powerful. I was expected to match the skills of a miko before me or be greater than her even, and at times when I couldn't live up to people's expectations of me, all I would hear was how well the previous miko would do this and do that, and I hated it. I understand that you're an Uchiha and a lot is expected of you because of how great your clan was, but you didn't struggle the same way Naruto did. You graduated from at the top of your class and excelled at techniques that shinobi believed a genin would never be capable of did you not?"

"Yes," Sasuke replied.

"Sasuke," Kagome said. "Compared to what Naruto went through growing up, you basically had everything handed to you on a silver platter. People feared and shunned Naruto his whole life, he struggled at the academy and goofed off to make people think that it didn't bother him, and now he's lost the only person who has ever really showed him that they care about him. Yes, he has Kakashi, he has Iruka, but neither of them have ever showed Naruto that they cared for him as much as the Hokage did. You have people who care about you just like Naruto does, but nobody ever looked at you with contempt like they did with him. Naruto 'outshined' you in a battle yes, but like you said. You and Sakura wouldn't probably be here without him. So, don't think about it like that, because with all that's happened to him in life, Naruto deserves it."

With all that said Kagome walked back down the hall leaving Sasuke to think on what she had just told him.

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A few days later was the Hokage's funeral and Kagome couldn't really make a lot of it. Standing there with the shinobi dressed in there all black attire, watching as Konohamaru cried his eyes out over the death of his grandfather, watching each and every one of the genin placed at white rose by the hokage's picture. And to make the mood sadder it started to rain. Even the heavens were mourning. In the end though the sun did come out and she could still feel the sadness, but she could also feel hope. The village was still broken and their spirits weren't so high, but they would rebuild and they would survive.

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A few days later Kagome, Kilala, and Sesshōmaru were back in their own village. It did sadden Kagome to say goodbye to Team 7 but she had to return to her own village. She had told them all that they would definitely see her again though. The Leaf Village was still their ally after all.

Currently the council was having a meeting to discuss the matter of Bankotsu.

"So, the strange shinobi you said is called Orochimaru is the one who resurrected him?" Tōran questioned.

"That's what he said," Kagome replied.

"So, the shinobi are capable of resurrecting the dead?" The fox demon councilor asked.

"They said no one has ever been known to have done such a thing," Sesshōmaru declared.

"Apparently though he is trying to find a way to do so," Kōga replied. "And he's succeeded in doing it once."

"And so, it is safe to assume that Orochimaru and the Sound Village are a threat to us and our villagers?" The hawk demon councilor questioned.

"For the time being yes", Sesshōmaru stated. "Orochimaru and his followers disappeared once the Third Hokage was killed. They could be anywhere right now."

"We'll need to increase the protection of our borders," Tōran suggested.

"I agree, but can we focus on the matter we were just discussing?" The hawk demon councilor asked.

"Oh yes," a horse demon councilor added. "What shall we do with the criminal Bankotsu?"

"I believe it is best that we leave him to be guarded by someone 24/7," Kōga insisted. "We cannot leave him in a jail cell for the rest of his life though."

"Yes," Tōran added. "He was resurrected against his own will after all."

"What if he tries to escape though?" The fox demon councilor asked.

"I still possess his sword," Sesshōmaru declared. "I doubt he will get very far in an unknown land without it."

"Perhaps he can be rehabilitated with this chance that we are offering him?" Tōran suggested. "If nothing else it would be useful to know how this Orochimaru was able to resurrect him in the first place."

"I am curious about that too", Kagome commented. "Even if he does have some way to bring back the dead I'm still not sure how he could have brought Bankotsu back. Every technique I have ever heard of requires at the very last the bones of the deceased. Even if you don't take into account the whole different dimension situation Orochimaru getting his hands on the hundreds of year's old bones of Bankotsu of all people still seems unlikely."

"Yes," Sesshōmaru replied. "He should be guarded by someone who knows his moves well enough. Kagome, perhaps you would be most suited for this job."

"Me?" Kagome asked in shock. "Why me?"

"You did fight him in the feudal era Kagome," Kōga added.

"Yes, but so did you Kōga," Kagome replied.

"Not as much as you did," Kōga replied.

"I think it is the best decision Kagome," Sesshōmaru said. "You do have the most knowledge of him, and he would most likely let his guard down against you rather than around any of us."

All the other councilors nodded in agreement.

"It looks like I'm going to be outvoted in this either way," Kagome grumbled.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The next day guards brought a still unconscious Bankotsu to Kagome's property; he still did not have his sword, but that didn't mean that the man would not try to put up a fight. The council agreed to give her a day to prepare for this change so she would have time to explain everything to Shippō and Jenenji. Once the guards had left Kagome set up a barrier around her house. This way he would not be able to leave her property. So, this was basically house arrest, but it had to be better than keeping the man locked in a jail cell; at least that was what Kagome was trying to tell herself.

Currently the still unconscious Bankotsu was sitting on a chair in the middle of their living room.

"Kagome I can't believe you let the council talk you into this," Shippō stated.

"What was I supposed to do Shippō?" Kagome questioned. "I would have been outvoted either way. Besides, we can still leave the property, he just can't."

"And you're sure he's no threat without that sword of his?" Shippō asked.

"I'm sure he still has physical strength," Kagome replied. "We can always just knock him out if he tries to pull any stunts though. Although I'm starting to wonder how much longer I can resort to that before he gets brain damage."

"Would that be such a bad thing?" Shippō asked.

Suddenly Bankotsu began to stir.

When he opened his eyes, he noticed Kagome and Shippō and he did not look happy,

"You!" He spat. "What are you doing here, and where the hell am I?"

"You are in my home," Kagome said. "I'm not happy about it either, but the council seems to think it's for the best if you stay here instead of being locked in a jail cell.

Bankotsu gave her a glare before looking at his hip and realizing that something was missing.

"My sword," he said. "What have you done with Banryū?"

"You really think we were going to let you keep that thing?" Shippō questioned.

"I do not have it," Kagome replied. "And don't think I'm going to tell you where it is."

"What are you going to do to me?" Bankotsu asked.

"If you think we brought you here to torture you then you're wrong," Kagome said. "You are simply here to live with us. Think of it as house arrest."

"And what if I decide that I don't want to and try to escape?" Bankotsu questioned.

"You can try" Kagome said. "If you do though, then you're just gonna cause a great amount of damage to yourself. There's a barrier around this property made by yours truly, and I made it specifically so you can't escape."

"You can't be serious," Bankotsu replied.

"Listen here asshole," Kagome said. "I'm not happy about this either, but it's either you stay here or you rot away in a jail cell. If you have a problem with it then you can go fry yourself against that barrier, but if you want to live then I suggest you shut up and learn to cooperate around here or you'll get nothing but blows to the head. Understood?"

Bankotsu looked at the ground before looking back at Kagome. She could tell by the look on his face that he was about as happy about this situation as she was.

"Yes," was his only reply.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 **Pairing Rankings**

 **1** **st** **:** **Sesshomaru**

 **2** **nd** **:** **Kakashi**

 **3** **rd** **:** **Itachi**

 **4** **th** **:** **Bankotsu**

 **LadySongbird16 and I are so sorry that it has been so long since our last update. My first semester of grad school was a definite adjustment period and LadySongbird16 was focusing on other projects. We are very appreciate of all the support that we have had since our last update and we hope to have our next update soon. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!**


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